This article was originally posted on www.tempcon.co.uk on 2 Oct 2020.

Tesco Future Farmer Foundation Scholarship Winner Christina Hutchings from West Henstill Farm in Devon has just released a new research report: ‘Where does all the water go? How a better understanding of Ventilation can be used to improve litter conditions in Broiler Houses’

Christina’s extensive research for the report was conducted in England, Scotland, Denmark, Holland, and the USA.

We are very appreciative of the kind words Christina had to say within the report about Tempcon Sales Engineer, Marc Paterson: “Thank you to Marc Paterson at Tempcon who supplied most of my test equipment to me and helped me hugely throughout the process.”
“Thank you to Marc Paterson of Tempcon, for the endless phone calls over the years, the genuine interest

J Warner & Son is a family run farming business based in central Shropshire spread over 1500 acres comprising of several different operations including arable, poultry farming and other livestock. The farm has been in operation for three generations growing small quantities of beet and maize for local livestock farmers with their main crops consisting of wheat, oilseed rape and potatoes.

Edward Warner came to EnviroMonitors to purchase a Vantage Pro2 Weather Station, “We decided we would benefit from a weather station to efficiently record weather patterns”. Edward also knew the weather station information could benefit decision making when applying chemicals to crops. In addition, the Vantage Pro2 Weather Station offers the farm the option to add further sensors to monitor leaf wetness and soil moisture.

J Warner & Son is a family run farming business

John Cranston is the current tenant at Letham Shank Farm. Although from a farming background John was advised to ‘see the world’ and so went to sea, which is where his interest in weather began, and became Master Mariner with Shell. In 1987 the farm adjacent to his father's came up for let and John left the sea once he secured the tenancy. Letham Shank is a small mixed ‘family’ farm of 160ha located two miles west of Berwick-upon-Tweed and celebrates its 90th year in 2013. The farm grows grass, OSR, winter & spring barley, wheat and occasionally potatoes with contracting on another 100ha of similar cropping. It is 54m above sea level surrounded by open views with a large number of hedges, woods and relatively small fields.

At Cereals 2012 John discussed Davis Weather Stations with EnviroMonitors. He owned an ageing cabled Instromet Weather System but needed to replace it. “After helping several people to set up budget weather stations, I decided that the Davis was the most cost

Simon Collins is the Senior Partner at MJ & SC Collins, a family business started by his parents in 1961. The farm is spread over 5 sites covering just over 3000 acres on the Hertfordshire / Essex border. Crops include wheat, OSR and field beans. The locations are up to 12 miles apart, with a multi-site visit taking over an hour to visit Sawbridgeworth, Matching Green, and Harlow.

Although the sites are in relatively close distance, Simon advises that there are very localised weather conditions which affect operations. The team already know that it can be raining at one site, but not at others. Simon is conscious that their equipment could be better used at a site where it is not raining for spraying or harvesting, but to drive there to find out the weather conditions takes an hour of time, increasing diesel costs, and with farm equipment and staff standing waiting. Time is at a massive premium in summer, and there is pressure on the combine to get grain into stores whilst it

Peter King is the Arable Farm Manager at Yattendon Estate in Berkshire. The estate has practiced “responsible English farming at Yattendon since 1925”. Yattendon Estate is the amalgamation of several smaller estates acquired by the first Lord Lliffe which represents a total of nearly 4000 hectares divided between in-hand farms, let farms, woodlands, christmas tree areas, let smallholdings and grazing land. Crops grown on the land include Wheat, Barley, Oil Seed Rape and Forage Maize Amongst the several farms on the estate is Frilsham Home Farm which is home to 550 Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle and 24 British White cattle.

Prior to purchasing their Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station from EnviroMonitors the estate had been keeping rainfall records for the Met Office since 1942. Peter had wanted a weather station for a number of years, seeing the value a robust and accurate

Bill Dodd is an arable farmer based in the North East growing wheat, barley and OSR. His family have been tenant farmers on the Duke of Northumberland's land since 1890. The 260ha farm is located near to Warkworth in the Northumberland Coastal Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Part of the land on the farm is classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is in the higher level scheme by DEFRA to improve the environment.

EnviroMonitors take part and attend agricultural and industry events throughout the year. Bill came to purchase a weather station from EnviroMonitors after meeting the team at Cereals 2012. He had previously used a basic hobbyist weather station but wanted to invest in a station that would have more longevity.

The Davis Vantage Vue Weather Station with WeatherLink USB was the station of choice for