Farmers have a new tool to get an idea of when their crops will mature.
“CliGrow” comes from the High Plains Regional Climate Center in Nebraska, but it works anywhere in the Lower 48. Greg Pettee, who developed the tool, says they’ve been interested in making something like this for years, but technology only recently made it possible.
Farmers can pick from 10 different crop types, ranging from soybeans to sunflowers. From there, they can see how many growing degree days have accumulated since planting and how that compares to average or any other year.
It also shows the range when a crop should mature, based on what’s happened in the past. Corn growers can even see an estimate of when they’ll reach the silking stage.
There’s a caveat to remember, says Pettee. “Temperature is a great variable for estimating crop growth, but there are many other variables that can affect your crop.
"The best way to take advantage of CliGrow is to look at a previous year when a crop was planted at a location and use your maturity information from that year to guide your understanding of the current growing season.”
For now, CliGrow only uses information from past years to give ranges. Pettee says they’d like to add actual forecast projections for the rest of the season within the next year.
He says that they plan to add other features, too, such as more crops to choose from and the ability to add your own growing degree day thresholds.
The HPRCC has a step-by-step guide for using CliGrow here.
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