Howard Corney is the owner of Court Gardens, a 12 acre vineyard located in Ditchling, East Sussex. Howard started his working life as an architect before he and his wife, who worked as a designer, decided to embark on a new career together as sheep farmers. Sixteen years ago they decided to move to their current location in Ditchling and have since planted a vineyard.

Court Garden Vineyard was planted back in 2005 and has been producing and selling English sparkling wine from the farm and local shops since November 2009. The site which is known to have existed as a farm since Saxon times is surrounded by grazing fields with residential Ditchling to the South Side.

Howard purchased a Davis Vantage Pro 2 from EnviroMonitors for use specifically on his vineyard. His main factors in buying

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

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

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

In Spring 2012 Paul Andrews, Irrigation Technician at The Wisley Golf Club, purchased three FieldScout TDR300 Soil Moisture meters and one SC900 Soil Compaction meter for improved water monitoring of their courses. They have found the units to be quick and simple to use. Paul advises the TDR300’s were purchased for Wisley to “better manage the water content in the soil and manage our water resource more effectively. We wanted to move away from the ‘feel’ method and have a more measured approach with set parameters to work within”. The readings Paul and his team take are used so they only water when the soil conditions require.

Paul has now developed a routine where “during the season the TDR is taken out every day by myself, and I asses greens and tees to see how they are performing”. The next stage is to “train the first

Company Overview

Spectrum Technologies manufactures and distributes affordable, leading-edge measurement information technology to the agricultural market throughout the world. Founded in 1987 by Mike Thurow, Spectrum is headquartered in Plainfield, IL.

The Technology

The company's technology is focused on four (4) primary product groups. They include:

Weather & Environmental Monitoring

• WatchDog™ Weather Stations
• WatchDog™ Data Loggers
• SpecWare™ Software

Nutrient Management Tools

• SPAD 502 Chlorophyll Meter
• Field Scout™ CM-1000 Chlorophyll Meter
• Cardy Meters for pH, EC, NO3-, K+ and Na

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Tools

• Nine Plant Disease Forecast Models (SpecWare software)
• Insect Modeling Software (SpecWare software)
• Degree-Day Recorders (WatchDog) and

Effective management of pesticide drift is increasingly important to pesticide applicators. Now you can monitor and data log weather conditions during and at the point of application with the new ultrasonic WatchDog Sprayer Station. Accurate data helps pesticide applicators make important decisions regarding weather conditions that affect safety, drift, and proper pesticide application.

Smaller than a soft drink can, this all-in-one weather station measures air temperature, humidity, dew point, wind chill, barometric pressure, and apparent wind speed and direction. It handles adverse conditions with a UV stabilized, compact housing that is fully waterproof and resistant to chemicals. Reliability is enhanced by eliminating moving parts: the traditional wind vane and cups have been replaced with ultrasonic transducers. he WatchDog Sprayer Station is more than a compact and capable weather station. While on-the-go, the station uses its internal compass and

Effective management of pesticide drift is increasingly important to pesticide applicators. Now you can monitor and data log weather conditions during and at the point of application with the new ultrasonic WatchDog Sprayer Station. Accurate data helps pesticide applicators make important decisions regarding weather conditions that affect safety, drift, and proper pesticide application.

Smaller than a soft drink can, this all-in-one weather station measures air temperature, humidity, dew point, wind chill, barometric pressure, and apparent wind speed and direction. It handles adverse conditions with a UV stabilized, compact housing that is fully waterproof and resistant to chemicals. Reliability is enhanced by eliminating moving parts: the traditional wind vane and cups have been replaced with ultrasonic transducers. he WatchDog Sprayer Station is more than a compact and capable weather station. While on-the-go, the station uses its internal compass and

The weather was great for Fruit Focus 2012. The lovely summer weather brought visitors out early to visit our stand and see our products. This year we launched the new Spectrum Technologies WatchDog Cellular Alert system which generated several enquiries from vineyard owners, both new start up vineyards along with those with already established vines.

Manufactured by Spectrum Technologies in the US, the Watchdog Cellular Alert is a lunchbox sized product which can be left in a location of your choice to monitor temperature. The system allows for manual configuration of temperature limits which lets the grower set alerts to warn of frost, bud kill, heater failure or other concerns. Once the limit has been reached the WatchDog Cellular Alert will make a phone call to alert the grower.

Spectrum Technologies have received an

The Fruit Grower's August 2009 issue discusses EnviroMonitors new technologies available to support berry growers.

As David Lau, Spectrum's International Vice President, comments EnviroMonitors is here to assist berry growers through providing tools with which to work.

Products which were discussed in The Fruit Grower available from EnviroMonitors are the ability to measure nitrates both accuractely and economically, pH monitors, IPM scope and predictive pest & disease software for analysis of farm weather stations, and the FieldScout CM1000 chlorophyll monitor developed under licence from NASA.

EnviroMonitors offer the ability to have fast data presentation, storage and transfer, from a range of instruments.