Lesson two

Environmental monitoring
Agro meteorological Instruments:

Are the equipment used to sample the state of the atmosphere to allow the farmers, agronomists
and researchers to monitor most of the weather conditions that affect the plant.

Activity Instrument
Soil and water The neutron probe – used to
measurement measure the quantity of
water in the soil.

Irrigation frequency Tensiometer - are used to

measure soil tension, which
is directly related to the
amount of soil moisture
available to plants. It helps
farmers to determine when
to water.
Nutrient monitoring Soil testing kit –used to
analyze the quality of the
soil; assessing the adequacy,
surplus or deficiency of
available nutrients for crop
growth and to monitor
changes brought about by
farming practices

Rainfall Rain guage – to gather and

measure the amount of
liquid precipitation over a
set period of time.

Wind speed Anemometer- is a device

used for measuring wind
speed and direction.
 Humidity Wet and dry bulb
hydrometer - an instrument
used to measure the amount
of water vapor in air, in soil,
or in confined spaces.

Sunshine Campbell-stokes sunshine

recorder – records the
amount of sunshine at a
given location

Applying environmental data to decision making.

Making informed decision at the farm is not easy. Critical information may be missing,
consequences may not readily identifiable, or there may be too much information to process. The
agricultural sector is becoming data rich due to advances in remote and mobile measurement
technologies. However, this increases the need for enhanced data management and analytical
capabilities. The ability to obtain, process and share basic data and insights gained from
processed data is key to making informed farm and policy level decision to improve producers’
productivity and economic returns, as well as broader social and environmental outcomes.

Farmers often base critical crop management decisions on personal experience and intuition
because they lack quantitative scientific evidence about how those decisions impact yields. In
order to meet the growing demand for agricultural products in an environmentally sustainable
way, optimizing crop management decisions is becoming critically important. A farmer will
upload farm data such as soil analysis, nutrient information, hybrid selection, plant populations
and yield data. Also weather data about precipitation, wind, temperature and other climatic
conditions from ground and equipment sensors.

An Agricultural Technology Provider will aggregate the farmer’s data, combine other relevant
data, and apply algorithms to analyze. The ATP then gives the farmer a customized solution or
recommendation based on data received. The farmer can then use the recommendations provided
by the ATP to make agronomic, economic, and farm management decisions on his farm.