Agriculture and Horticulture - meteorological services

We deliver meteorological services to the whole agriculture value chain - including farmers, growers, food producers, professional associations and recognised bodies, agrochemical companies, agriscientists, government and independent agencies.

We can help you:

• identify weather windows for key activities such as crop spraying and harvesting
• use resources effectively, for example, reducing the risk of agrochemicals leaching into water courses
• demonstrate due diligence for environmental regulations
• run threat models for crop diseases, such as potato blight and septoria

Why use Met Office agriculture services?

- Over 50 years of weather records for researching temporal changes in growing season, field capacity days for trafficability, disease threat, designing slurry pits, and more.

- Ever-improving data about climate change to inform future farming and growing activities.

- Airborne dispersion specialist team for tracing the source and predicting the dispersion of odours and airborne disease vectors like bluetongue and foot-and-mouth.

Our services at a glance…

Historical observations – for research

Receive bespoke weather observations from a weather station or radar network in PDF format to help with your research or decision-making. Choose your timeframe and weather parameters to get the data you need i.e. wind speed, humidity, temperatures, etc.

Talk To A Forecaster – get a personalised weather forecast over the phone

Ring our meteorologist directly to receive an instant forecast for any location in the UK, up to 5 days ahead. You can specify which weather element(s) you want the forecast to focus on.

VisualEyes™ – for managing horticultural crops efficiently

A web-based, innovative, flexible short-term planning tool for the horticultural trade:

• increase revenue by identifying optimum times for weather sensitive operations
• manage health and safety risks by sending hazardous weather alerts
• reduce maintenance costs through effective workforce planning and protecting assets

Threshold forecasts – if you want a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer

Get a bespoke 7-day forecast in PDF format displaying colour-coded thresholds for the weather parameters that are important to you. Order this forecast as a one-off or recurring every hour, every day or every week.

Weather Sensitivity Analysis (WSA) – measuring the impact of weather on commodities

The analysis helps to quantify the causal links between agricultural outputs and the weather, based on historical data. WSA is commonly used to establish the impact of weather on:

• Crop yields
• Demand for horticultural produce, such as lettuces
• The effects of a weather parameter on crop health

Weather Intelligence Models (WIM) - turning weather into operational predictions

A Weather Intelligence Model takes an established relationship, such as one generated using a WSA (see above) and delivers a regular forecast, usually daily, of the desired commodity rather than the weather.

WIM produces a range of possible outcomes or a best estimate for:

• Potato blight threat
• Crop spraying windows
• Harvesting windows
• Trafficability
• Metaldehyde leaching

Met Office Rainfall and Evapo-transpiration Calculation System (MORECS) – for modelling soil moisture and runoff

MORECS is a nationwide soil moisture model that is run each week. It produces daily information for a range of crop types and actual soil properties. These data can be used to:

• Manage runoff and leaching, so they can be quantified, planned for and mitigated
• Assess the value of investing in low ground pressure tyres
• Analyse the stress threats and irrigation needs of different crops

Data for Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Systems (ADMS) – for predicting the concentration and deposition of airborne pollutants

Spraying pesticides, manure, and slurry emits particles into the air. In high concentration, this could harm people, animals or the environment.

ADMS is a popular dispersion model used to predict the concentration and deposition of airborne pollutants, based on weather conditions covering wind speed and direction, temperature, total cloud cover, relative humidity and rainfall.

We provide weather data in a format that is suitable for direct use within the model.

Free guidance and resources

Flooding Risk Assessment

River and Sea Levels in England

River levels in Wales

River levels and flood map in Scotland

Defra’s Risk Assessment tools for an environmental permit

Animal Health – We provide advice on the spread of airborne diseases in conjunction with the Institute for Animal Health (IAH)

Blightwatch

AHDB WeatherHub

Excess winter rainfall maps