Cropwatch online (Taking e-tech to growers)

Abstract

Cropwatch online (Taking e-tech to growers)

Summary

An electronic tool, CropWatchOnline.com® has been enhanced and launched for grape-growers in two regions, the Riverland and McLaren Vale. Adding value to data and information by converting it to easily available knowledge is a strength of the Australian wine industry. By building capacity to communicate and an improved competency, the industry is better positioned to respond and adapt to the dynamic nature of the environment in which it operates.

Tools such as CropWatch® and CropWatchOnline.com® have been improved and presented to assist growers with access to accurate, reliable and timely information. This infers a responsibility to constituents – providing the best service possible becomes the driving force behind delivery. Recognition and deployment of advances in information technology provide the key to developing an electronic delivery service for CropWatch and a raft of viticultural information for Australian grape-growers.

The World Wide Web and Email are ideal portals for information exchange and provide enormous opportunity to those with the ability to embrace its potential. Large amounts of data can be accessed, analysed and presented. CropWatch® has much to gain by exploring the electronic medium.

With this technology at our fingertips, a future where automatic weather stations and the Bureau of Meteorology can electronically interface with CropWatchOnline.com® to produce predictive warnings or outbreak alerts for disease and pest is presently available with manual operation.

From a technical basis, automation of this service is not that far away. CropWatchOnline.com® is leading the charge in Australian viticulture to become the pre-eminent holistic ‘one stop’ internet site for wine-grape growers nationally.

Throughout this project word has been spreading with regard to the value of CropWatch, the weekly disease and pest advisory service for specific regions. At the end of 2005/06, this service was operative in the Riverland and McLaren Vale. However, many other districts are now enquiring about the availability of the service to their growers. At the recent Riverland field days there were a number of requests from Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley growers. Furthermore, Landmark (thanks to the efforts of James Hook) in liaison with CropWatch SA®, has initiated CropWatch message services within Langhorne Creek and Clare Valley for the 2006/07 season.

There is a growing interest in the CropWatch® service and in this regard, CropWatchOnline.com has played a big role in its promotion. People are able to see what is happening in other regions and are asking why similar programs are not being facilitated in their districts.

During the course of this project, workshops held in both the Riverland and McLaren Vale introduced many growers to the practical applications of computers in the wine-growing business.

CropWatchOnline.com provides four basic information modules for growers: access to weather data and forecasts, a tool for disease diagnosis, industry news, and the weekly CropWatch® message. All are easily available and allow the user’s confidence to blossom when accessing the electronic media for relevant viticultural information.

Should CropWatchOnline.com continue to grow and more regions come on board, users from a wider cross-section of Australian viticulture will be able to navigate through the site and view the weekly messages. Since anyone with access to the web can access this free-to-air service, in effect, CropWatchOnline.com can act to give a snapshot of the broader industry at any given time (weekly intervals). Users, in essence, have the potential to look beyond their own backyard and gain a greater appreciation for the dynamic function of the whole industry.

This sharing of information, experience and knowledge can only act to strengthen our industry. Improving access and the ability to use computer technologies will significantly improve our capability, as an industry, to communicate – thus facilitating avenues for informed decision making, providing leadership and improving the industry’s preparedness to respond.

CropWatch® has grown from its humble beginnings as a disease and pest information service. It now, via CropWatchOnline.com, embraces the industry and will continue to explore new boundaries in the endeavour to keep the wine-growing community at the forefront of innovation, extension and technology whilst still offering a practical viticultural information service of the utmost integrity.

Thanks to CropWatchOnline.com (www.cropwatchonline.com) users now have access to information when they need it.