Timely access to live soil moisture data online has been given the tick of approval from producers.
The soil moisture speedo data delivered via a new website had been a direct result of subscriber feedback.
Subscribers to Agriculture Victoria's soil moisture monitoring service had shown high levels of satisfaction in a recent survey.
Ninety-one per cent of subscribers to the cropping e-newsletter indicated that the measuring and monitoring of soil moisture assisted them with maximizing their crop production.
The Soil Moisture Monitoring (Cropping) probe network was established ten years ago to record soil water content down to one metre at a range of crop sites across Victoria.
Agriculture Victoria seasonal risk agronomist, and project co-ordinator, Dale Boyd said subscribers were happy with the timing of the information, saying it was received at the critical points of the season and in enough time to help with making key decisions.
"Eighty per cent of respondents agreed that knowing the actual water volume in the soil was important," Mr Boyd said.
"Monitoring a farm's soil moisture can help to take a lot of guesswork out of estimating a crop's potential yield.
"By adding this crucial dimension to measuring what is going on under the surface, farmers have access to information that can give a sense of how much water is stored for the growing season and even how their crops respond to rainfall events in their specific soil types."
Mr Boyd said including a tool that provided live data from the popular soil moisture speedo via the new website agriculture.vic.gov.au/soilmoisturemonitoring had been a direct result of subscriber feedback.
"The survey has helped inform improvements to the way we present soil moisture data, making it more accessible and user friendly."
Mr Boyd said the survey also highlighted how some farming groups had not been accessing all the potential soil moisture data available.
"There are still many in our communities that may not be actively monitoring or discussing soil moisture which is something we want to work to change as this ultimately assists primary producers in making climate risk decisions," he said.
"We hope improvements to the e-newsletter and the recent launch of the new website will go a long way to achieving that."
A webinar - scheduled for this Wednesday 17 June at 12 pm - will provide a 'walk through' demonstration of the new site and participants can register to join at: https://bit.ly/2yIg9FH
For more information about joining webinars email climate.webinars@agriculture.vic.gov.au or contact Alice Ritchie alice.ritchie@agriculture.vic.gov.au
The webinar was being delivered by Agriculture Victoria and funded by the Victorian Government's 2019-20 Drought Support Package.
