Digital Meteorological Bulletin

The Digital Meteorological Bulletin automatically collects and visualizes meteorological data, allowing users to track rainfall distribution and other key variables in real time. By providing accessible, field-level climate information, it helps optimize resource use and reduce risks associated with weather variability.

The tool supports research, field operations, and climate monitoring at the Americas Hub. It is particularly valuable during the implementation and evaluation of agricultural experiments, informing decisions related to sowing, irrigation, fertilization, machinery use, and harvesting.

Overall, the Bulletin enables timely, evidence-based decision-making for researchers, technicians, and farm managers, strengthening planning, resource efficiency, and adaptation to climate variability.

The tool has significantly enhanced access to real-time weather data across the Palmira campus, strengthening decision-making pathways for both research and field operations. By integrating automated data collection and visualization, it has improved monitoring of rainfall and other climatic variables.

Expected results include more precise crop management, optimized use of inputs such as water and machinery, and greater adaptive capacity to climate variability.

Upcoming versions will include new forecasting and decision-support features, such as:

• weekly excess/deficit water forecasts and
• irrigation requirements based on observed agroclimatic conditions and water balance models.

Scaling Potential: From Campus to Community

The Digital Meteorological Bulletin has strong potential to scale beyond the experimental campus to farms and production landscapes.

How we scale the system? 

Our scaling strategy is based on a low-cost, decentralized data collection model linked to a central platform:

• Low-Cost Hardware: Deploying low-cost automated rain gauges and weather sensors directly into farmers’ fields.

• Centralized Platform: Connecting these sensors to a centralized digital platform accessible via mobile and web interfaces.

• Target Users: Empowering farmers, cooperatives, and extension services with direct, local data, to monitor local weather conditions, rainfall distribution, and water availability directly from mobile or web interfaces.

The system can also integrate irrigation alerts, short-term forecasts, and water balance models to support timely, precise agronomic decisions. Through partnerships with local organizations and institutions, the Bulletin could evolve into a scalable network of agroclimatic monitoring systems, improving resilience, optimizing resource use, and fostering digital innovation in smallholder farming communities.

Camilo Barrios Pérez - [email protected]