wHen2g0 Smart Tool
A water stewardship tool
What is wHen2g0?
north_east wHen2g0 is a smart tool which helps to improve application timings of metazachlor and quinmerac, to minimise the risk to water. By evaluating a combination of soil type, drainage, cultivation method and weather, the tool provides an eight-day forecast with a traffic light system to indicate the optimum timing for water stewardship. By following the recommendation, you can ensure your herbicide application stays in the field where it is needed and minimises threat to water.
How does it work?
By taking into account soil type, drainage and cultivation method, the tool is able to calculate the approximate drainage rate of your soil. By pairing this information with past and forecasted weather, it is able to estimate your soil wetness and soil capacity. Depending on the result of this calculation, it can then make a recommendation as to when a product should be applied.
Simply watch the video below to see how the tool works:
Why is it important to use this tool?
Metazachlor and quinmerac are key active ingredients for weed control in oilseed rape, however their propensity to cause defects in water courses at non-compliant levels poses a threat to their registration. Water companies state that they must show progress in reducing pesticide concentrations in water, and failure to do so may result in further restrictions to the current chemistry portfolio. By using this tool, and following its advice, we hope to see an improvement in application timings and a reduction in defects of metazachlor and quinmerac.
How does this change existing stewardship advice?
Existing stewardship advice restricts metazachlor and quinmerac applications to the 30th September inside a drinking water safeguard zone, and the 15th October outside of these zones. However, these periods have the potential to force applications into a very small window, and do not account for weather conditions. By using the north_east wHen2g0 tool , you are able to gain field specific water stewardship advice, therefore enabling you to make applications into November. Ultimately, the tool will not take the decision for you, that must be done by the sprayer operator, but it does enable a more informed decision to be made. We encourage users to download the forecast when using the tool, to show evidence of proactive water stewardship.
Who are Agrimetrics?
Agrimetrics is one of four Agri-Tech Centres set up by UK Government to drive greater efficiency, resilience and wealth across the agri-food sector. Their mission is to catalyse the sector through the power of big data and advanced analytics. Central to this is the development of an infrastructure which connects disparate data sources. Once connected, huge volumes of data can be analysed efficiently and effectively – uncovering new insights and powering new solutions. To learn more about them, north_east click here .