J. Lomas et al. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 103 2000 197–208 199
includes the study of climatic conditions of storage, whether indoors or in field heaps, an examination of
atmospheric conditions in animal shelters and farm buildings, and the monitoring of environmental con-
ditions during the transport of agricultural produce by land, sea or air.
The primary aim of agricultural meteorology is to extend and fully utilize our knowledge of atmospheric
and related processes to optimize agricultural pro- duction, thus increasing profitability and decreasing
risk. The proper application of principles in this sci- ence can lead to improving the quantity and quality
of crop and animal production, and to improving food security.
A secondary aim of agricultural meteorology is to help conserve natural resources and protect the envi-
ronment from detrimental usage. Sustainable human activity is strongly influenced by climatic conditions
and variability. The climate often places constraints upon a particular form of land use at a given place
and time. Therefore agricultural meteorology has an important role to play in land use planning.
Agricultural meteorology, therefore, includes two basic subject areas:
1. Physical sciences — specifically the physics of the atmosphere i.e. meteorology and climatology and
soil physics and hydrology; 2. Biological sciences — specifically physiology,
ecology and pathology of plants and animals, and associated disciplines of agriculture such as
agronomy and horticulture.
3. Limitations to the application of agricultural meteorology
Decker 1994 reviewed the historical development of agricultural meteorology from the year 1800. Al-
though the review is biased towards the experiences in the US, his analysis and projections have applica-
tion to events occurring in other regions of the world. The operational applications of agricultural meteo-
rology and the specific requirements of the farming community have been stated by Lomas 1996 to be
dependent on three basic conditions: 1. The availability of a suitable data base and infras-
tructure; 2. The provision of accurate and timely information;
3. The services must be economically beneficial to the customer farmer, advisor, agriculture commodity
trader, etc.. Although few dispute the statements that ‘farming
is the most weather-sensitive occupation’ and that ‘the agricultural industry is the most responsive to vari-
abilities in weather and climate’, the attempts to es- tablish special weather services for agriculture have
not been completely successful. The reason why the weather service programmes for agriculture, follow-
ing the pilot programme in the lower Mississippi, have never been expanded in the US is not obvious, ac-
cording to Decker 1994, but lack of coordination and cooperation may be one reason. Lack of inter-
ministerial cooperation has been reported in Africa, Asia and Latin America by the Cooperative Institute
for Applied Meteorology, even for countries where the Meteorological Service is part of the Ministry of
Agriculture. A similar situation was also reported for the Soviet Union Meteorological Service by Kogan
1986.
On the other hand, the effect of a cooperative ef- fort between the Meteorological Service and the Soil
Conservation Service Ministry of Agriculture in pro- viding a farmer-specialized agricultural meteorologi-
cal forecasting, information and advisory service has been reported from Israel A. Cohen, personal com-
munication. The farmers from the Central Coastal Plain showed considerable interest in using general
and 4-day medium range forecasts along with farming advice provided by the soil conservation extension-
ist, especially during the rainy season October–May. The interest of the farmers can be measured by the
number of calls seeking detailed information recorded at the local office of the Agrometeorological Informa-
tion Service as shown in Fig. 1.
The Agricultural Meteorological Information Ser- vice was introduced in 1985 and within the first 3
years changed from a frost advisory to a general agro- climate warning and advisory service. Requests for
advisories during the first decade reached a peak of more than 100,000 per season 400–500 per day and
dropped to about 90,000 during the last few years. Recent general forecasting by the various television
channels may have contributed to the 10 drop in farmers’ demand for agricultural meteorological advi-
sories. During rainy spells there is an increase in calls. A nominal telephone charge is paid by the farmer.
200 J. Lomas et al. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 103 2000 197–208
Fig. 1. Number of requests for detailed agricultural meteorological advisories from the Soil Conservation Service, of the Ministry of Agriculture, for the central coastal plain of Israel during 19851986 to 19971998.
Following this long term experiment, the service has expanded to most other agricultural regions in Is-
rael. However, the quality of the information service depends on the professionals who do the job. Spe-
cial training courses in agrometeorology have been provided for the Soil Conservation Service Exten-
sionists. These individuals must be willing to work at unconventional hours.
Overproduction of some basic agricultural com- modities and the financial implications of storage
cost may be another reason for the lack of fund- ing of a service which aims to increase agricul-
tural production. However, the lack of adequately trained personnel at all levels, especially in the agri-
cultural and horticultural industry, may be another major stumbling block to the application of agricul-
tural meteorology. Wieringa 1996 showed that in the Netherlands, where prognostic information and
data are available by data link, hardly any of sev- eral hundred farm counsellors have subscribed to
the Netherlands Service at a cost of 200 Ecuyear. Several reasons can be postulated for this situation
in a technologically highly developed agricultural economy:
1. The counsellors consider weather unimportant; 2. Management applications are not available;
3. The counsellors know too little about meteorology to appreciate or apply such information.
Wieringa 1996 concluded that the lack of knowl- edge of meteorology is the most likely reason. Such
is the situation for 19 countries of Western Europe as well as in the US Perry, 1994. The lack of economic
justification for the application of weather information to agricultural practices maybe another aspect Maun-
der, 1989. In Israel, for example, as long as the cost of water was fairly low, there was no economic bene-
fit to using agricultural meteorological information for the management of irrigation. However, as the price
of water rose an ever increasing number of farmers turned to the irrigation management information ser-
vice Lomas, 1996. Thus, there seem to be a number of reasons for the lack of use of Agricultural Meteoro-
logical Services by the weather sensitive agricultural community:
1. The lack of cooperation between the institutions
providing information and relevant advisories and those responsible for their transfer to the farming
community; 2. Insufficient education and training of the user com-
munity, including the farm advisory services that provide specific agricultural advice from general
weather information;
J. Lomas et al. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 103 2000 197–208 201
3. Absence of an economic benefit for the application of agricultural meteorological advisories.
Because the private sector is generally not well aware of the benefits of agricultural meteorology, it
is not generally willing to contribute to professional education and training in the discipline.
The current status of education and training of agri- cultural meteorology personnel are discussed in Sec-
tion 4 to examine the major constraints limiting an adequate level and satisfactory quality of agricultural
meteorology personnel.
4. Current status
