Category Archives: Announcements

Degree days at a glance

What are degree days and why do we use them? Degree days are an important part of many NEWA tools, but what are they and whey do we use them?

Insect and plant development is controlled by temperature. Warmer temperatures speed development while colder temperatures slow development. This relationship can be used to track the life cycle of an insect or plant with something called a degree-day model.

A degree day is a unit of measurement that is species-specific and represents some proportion of overall insect or plant development. Degree days are calculated by using maximum and minimum temperature to calculate a daily average, then subtracting a base temperature. NEWA weather stations provide daily temperature information to track pest development, and the rate of degree-day accumulation is unique for each location. It also helps to think of degree days as accumulated points, not accumulated days.

Different insects have a different degree day requirements. This caterpillar pest has a base temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit (or 10 degrees Celsius) and a developmental requirement 1000 ‘base 50F’ degree days from egg to adult. Image Copyright Dan Olmstead NYS IPM Program.

For a long time, pest management information learned from our parents and grandparents was accurate. But now, the weather is less predictable, especially in the last five or ten years. (And new pests have emerged.) Sadly, cross-generational knowledge is becoming less reliable. Degree-day models are now the best basis for agricultural pest management decisions.

A farmer is going to see changes in pest pressure, planting time, or crop development from one year to the next. Degree-day models, combined with modern technology, give growers a better estimate of pest status. There is still variability, but he or she is better informed to make effective management decisions.

Degree day requirements for an insect won’t change. But the time needed to gather those degree days is variable.

Up next, we will take a closer look at degree day tools available on NEWA.

New weather technology research will benefit NEWA users

Weather sensing technology is at the heart of NEWA tools but organizing the vast amount of data coming from a network like ours is a complicated matter.

Specialists in agriculture, engineering, computing and information sciences at Cornell University got together this past winter to talk about technology and farming in New York State. This effort, called the Digital Agriculture Initiative, had many positive outcomes including new collaborations between the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Engineering and College of Computer and Information Sciences. A series of innovative grants were also awarded using federal Hatch Grant funds, as a direct outcome of winter discussions.

One of these successful grant proposals will have a direct long-term benefit for NEWA users. Development of a High-Resolution Weather Forecast Database for Digital Agriculture and Outreach Applications will examine more efficient ways of collecting and storing large amounts of data from weather sensor networks. Principal Investigators Dr. Art DeGaetano (Northeast Regional Climate Center Director, CALS) and Dr. Madeleine Udell (College of Engineering) will work together to improve the accuracy of agricultural forecasts.

To learn more about this project and other Digital Agriculture projects in New York State, visit the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station website.

NEWA needs your help – take our online survey!

The Network for Environment and Weather Applications (NEWA) is seeking new and experienced users to take an important online survey — it will only take 10 minutes of your time. Use your smart device, tablet or desktop computer!

Take the survey now:

https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0GRlhOIDI5HwbR3

All responses are anonymous and confidential. They will not be shared with any outside group.

Whether you’ve used NEWA’s online pest forecast models for years or have never used NEWA at all, we will benefit from your responses. Why? Because we are building a new website at newa.cornell.edu, one that’ll be as easy to use on your smart phone as on your desktop, and we want to build it the way you want it to be.

NEWA is an online agricultural decision support system that uses real time weather data, streamed over the internet from 573 weather stations throughout the Northeast, Midwest and mid-Atlantic. NEWA provides insect and plant disease pest management tools, degree days, and weather information for growers, consultants, Extension educators, faculty, and others.

NEWA models and resources are available free of charge, and are used to make informed localized crop management decisions. The NEWA website will be upgraded soon and we want to know what users’, new and old, want and need out of the new website.

Thank you for participating!