Farmers are becoming more savvy about monitoring floods, rising waters, and weather conditions in their regions, and there is more demand for further data on precise property locations.
That's according to Farm Monitoring Solutions owner Phil Whitton, who said farmers throughout the Goulburn Valley are becoming more reliant on more focused weather data outside of the Bureau of Meteorology.
"For example, some farmers in the [Strathbogie] Ranges get their weather reports from Mangalore, which is down on flat country, and about at least four degrees hotter," he said.
"The accuracy of BoM data isn't necessarily that good in that case.
"For other weather events like fire, the wind direction that's coming onto your own specific property also becomes important compared to the wind direction at Mangalore."
Mr Whitton, who has clients nationwide, said specific weather monitoring on properties has excellent influence across different agricultural sectors.
"As far as seasonal changes or changes in the climate, already there's some cherry farmers questioning the viability of growing cherries, because they're not seeing the cold temperatures at night time that cherries need," he said.
"We've got some farmers in the Northern Territory with huge cattle stations, where they're monitoring the water points for the cattle but will also put rain gauges out there, because the variation is such that a storm goes through and just one rain gauge could catch it."
He said that within Victoria, a growing number of farmers are owning more than one property, with each farm showing major differences in landscape and climate.
It also comes with a need to have the right equipment and data to take advantage of both landscapes, according to Mr Whitton.
"A farmer that comes to mind around here is a guy who lives in Violet Town who has got one farm in the hills in Strathbogie... and a third farm down in western Victoria," he said.
"It was his confidence in being able to monitor conditions without actually being on a property that led to him actually buying that other property a long way away in western Victoria because he could use technology."
He said that when farmers live on different properties from those where they grow crops or run stock, knowing how much rain has fallen or whether creeks might be rising can give them more confidence in making farm decisions.
"We can pair that with soil moisture monitoring too, so after the flood has gone through, they can see what's happening in the soil," he said.
"Which then helps them make decisions about adding more fertiliser to a crop because there's enough moisture there to get it to the end or maybe decision about irrigating or not irrigating."
Mr Whitton said that there are signs that as the weather becomes more unpredictable, farmers are becoming more conscious of getting more farm data than they may have historically had.
He said growing enquiries for accurate weather data systems are also coming from other industries, like the mining and aeronautical sectors.
The Bureau of Meteorology have recently established a new unit dedicated specifically to provide weather and advice to producers and growers.
The Bureau's agriculture decision support team hopes to gather information from farmers, agronomists, and other international weather bureaus to help with decision making.
