CliGrow software provides practical climate data to ag producers
Collaborator(s): Warren Pettee
The amount of available climate data useful for modern agriculture continues to grow, and software applications are now putting it in reach for producers. A recently released app called CliGrow, developed by the High Plains Regional Climate Center, helps producers estimate crop maturity using a field’s historical climate data.
For locations in the lower 48 states, CliGrow shows the 30-year average for growing degree days, a measure of temperature useful to estimate a range when a crop may gain maturity in a new growing season.
Producers can access CliGrow online and plug in specific field locations. Estimates are available for 10 crops — corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar beets, dry beans, sorghum, alfalfa, potatoes, sunflower and grass — with more to be added.
The software creates a graph showing the 30-year average for growing degree days, as well as historical data on the first and last frost for a given location. Pettee said producers can save a link to the graph and revisit the field’s up-to-date estimate at any time.
