Implexx - Crop Water Use Forecast

• Receive a 14-day crop water use forecast estimated from the latest advances in space science and technology
• Improve irrigation planning and management with a 14-day forecast of your crop water use
• Couple crop water use with a 14-day weather forecast unique to your location
• Fine scale resolution down to a block, paddock or site
• Receive a daily email with easy to read yet comprehensive forecast
• Choose between metric or imperial units

• Low cost irrigation management - avoid paying for expensive hardware such as soil moisture sensors and data loggers.
• No maintenance - there is zero ongoing maintenance of hard to use field equipment and electronics.
• No hassles - your farm machinery and operations will not disturb the forecast. There is no need to remove equipment for harvest or for reinstallation, cleaning or other maintenance.
• Large scale - estimate water use of entire blocks rather than a tiny, single point with a soil moisture sensor.
• Local, personalised weather forecasts - receive a weather forecast that is localised to a 5 mile radius around your property.

The first step is to choose a crop of interest and note its location. The technicians at Implexx then upload the geographical coordinates of the site into our secure and private server.

Around midnight on each day, an email is received in your inbox with a PDF attachment. The PDF contains a 14-day forecast crop water use and weather forecast specific to your site.

Crop water use is derived from a series of canopy spectral reflectance values recorded by the European Space Agency satellite, Sentinel 2. The spectral values, also known as spectral bands, record light that is reflected from the crop`s canopy in the visible and infrared wavebands. The canopy reflectance values are fed into a proprietary algorithm that has been developed by scientists at Implexx following years of careful research and observation. The output from the algorithm is crop water use for a specific location.

Weather forecasts are derived from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS). These data are supplemented with additional sources from a variety of inputs including airport observation stations, satellites, radar, the Internet of Things, and weather analyses and model outputs.

Currently, irrigation management decisions are based on what occurred in the past. Such information can be several days old and no longer reflect the true water requirements of the crop. The adage "the horse has bolted" certainly applies to this approach to irrigation management.

The Implexx Crop Water Use Forecast provides an estimate of future events. A forecast of possible crop water requirements allows irrigation management to be on the front foot and proactive on decision making. Rather than reacting to past events that are several days old, the Implexx Crop Water Use Forecast allows proactive, forward thinking decision making.

The Implexx Crop Water Use Forecast has an added benefit of providing a hyper-local weather forecast. That is, you will also receive a personalised weather forecast of your site or location.

Weather forecasts from government stations can be a vast distance from your site or property. These forecasts are also based on conditions that do not reflect your local conditions. For example, many weather stations are located at the nearest airport where microclimate and weather conditions are significantly different from an agricultural or horticultural field.

The weather forecast provided alongside the crop water use forecast are based on a global reach of high resolution, 5 kilometre (3 mile) grids. Across the globe, there are over 200 million grid points that covers every land mass and region. This method ensures your location of interest is never more than 2 km, or 1.2 mi, away from an grid point—as opposed to potentially hundreds of miles away from the nearest airport observation station.

The Implexx Crop Water Use Forecast includes a 14-day forecast of the following parameters:

• Crop water use
• Evapotranspiration (ETo)
• Rainfall probability
• Rainfall (precipitation)
• Temperature
• Dew point temperature
• Relative humidity
• Wind speed
• Wind direction