Importance of weather monitoring for agricultural decision‐making – an exploratory behavioral study for Oklahoma Mesonet

BACKGROUND The Oklahoma Mesonet (the statewide environmental and weather monitoring network) has monitored changes in weather patterns since 1994 to provide accurate and timely mesoscale weather information to farmers and other groups. Studies are still scarce that would quantitatively assess farmer...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the science of food and agriculture 2018-10, Vol.98 (13), p.4945-4954
Main Authors: Ziolkowska, Jadwiga R, Zubillaga, Jesus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Agricultural economics
Agricultural management
agricultural production
agriculture
Agriculture - manpower
behavioral economics
Data processing
Decision analysis
Decision Making
Economics
Empirical analysis
Environmental changes
Environmental Monitoring
Familiarity
Farmers - psychology
Female
Humans
Knowledge
Land management
Male
Mesonet
Meteorological data
Middle Aged
Oklahoma
Organic chemistry
Perception
Profitability
Weather
weather monitoring
Weather patterns
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:BACKGROUND The Oklahoma Mesonet (the statewide environmental and weather monitoring network) has monitored changes in weather patterns since 1994 to provide accurate and timely mesoscale weather information to farmers and other groups. Studies are still scarce that would quantitatively assess farmers' perceptions about the value of the Oklahoma Mesonet contributions to agricultural operations, profitability of land management, and decision making. This paper aims to analyze those questions by means of an exploratory empirical study in Oklahoma for two groups of Mesonet users and non‐users. RESULTS Familiarity with and application of Mesonet information determines farmers' profitability assessments and decision making. Farmers' perceptions are also influenced by the degree of previous exposure to weather‐related losses. The median estimate of the economic value of Mesonet information is $1000 per year. Mesonet users perceive higher profitability from the application of Mesonet data at 7.6/10, whereas Mesonet non‐users provided an average assessment of 2.6/10. CONCLUSIONS Consistent use of Mesonet information results in a higher assessment of the importance of Mesonet. This research provides some initial insights into farmers' perceptions about the value of Oklahoma Mesonet information, which could guide stakeholders in developing measures to better serve farmers with environmental monitoring data for improved farm decisions. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
ISSN:0022-5142
1097-0010
DOI:10.1002/jsfa.9027