Atlanta, Georgia and St. Louis,
Missouri
January 6, 2009
New section on weather.com
includes wind, rain and alert details for farmers
The Weather Channel Interactive, in partnership with
agricultural products leader
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON), announced a new section on
weather.com® dedicated to weather and farming at
www.weather.com/farming. Within the Agriculture News &
Forecast, the main feature is the Farmers Forecast, which
includes up-to-date weather information that matters most to the
agricultural community, such as severe weather alerts affecting
crops and detailed data about precipitation, wind and soil
moisture.
The new
Farmers Forecast adds farming-related alerts in addition to the
severe weather alerts already available through the
weather.com site. These will alert consumers to warnings
with freeze, frost, high wind or hail indicators for each
forecasted day. With precipitation being critical for the
farming community, not only does the page include the percent of
precipitation, but it also includes an actual projection of the
amount of rain that is expected.
“U.S. farmers
and the crops they produce are at the mercy of a number of
natural factors, and weather can be the difference between a
great crop or a disappointing harvest,” says Ernesto Fajardo,
the lead of Monsanto’s U.S. business. “As a company, we are
dependent on the success of these growers and we invest heavily
in research to develop products that will improve a grower’s
ability to succeed despite challenges from weather or pests.
This partnership enables us to also assist in providing growers
information that can assist them with their crop management
decisions.”
www.weather.com/farming will offer several components to
help farmers make decisions before and throughout the season.
From the same page, users can easily change locations to keep up
with multiple farms or compare sites. Among the information
included on the new section:
“Partnering
with Monsanto, the leading provider of agricultural technology
and products, has enabled us to create a practical and useful
weather tool for the agricultural community that also addresses
the needs of an advertiser,” said Paul Iaffaldano, executive
vice president and general manager of The Weather Channel Media
Solutions. “The result of this joint effort is a one-stop
resource for farmers that can empower them with the vital
information they need every day.”
In addition
to 36-hour and 10-day forecasts, the new section also includes
an almanac that allows users to compare the forecast with
typical and historical weather conditions. Farmers can
reference past weather conditions and plan for their crops
accordingly using information such as daily and monthly
averages, as well as actual reported conditions from the day,
week and month to date.
Beyond the
in-depth Farmers Forecast, the Agriculture News & Forecast also
includes more than 30 helpful maps for anyone with agriculture
interests. Regional and national maps give a detailed visual
display of drought severity, soil moisture, precipitation
forecasts, rainfall estimates, optimal planting schedules and
first and last freeze norms.
An
interactive map also allows consumers to customize points of
interest and specific weather layers such as radar, clouds, dew
point, wind speed, temperature and past precipitation.
The section
is also a one-stop resource for the latest agriculture news.
Users can stay up to date with articles related to the industry
while checking out the next day’s forecast. Users can easily
bookmark any page within the new section, such as the Farmers
Forecast, to return to this practical resource and connect it to
social networking sites such as Facebook, Digg and others.
Along with the new section within
the weather.com site, Monsanto will also run an online
campaign throughout 2009 featuring many of its brands such as
Deltapine, DEKALB, Asgrow, Yieldgard, Roundup Ready and Roundup
PowerMax.
To stay on
top of the latest farming forecast and agriculture news, please
visit
www.weather.com/farming.
The
Weather Channel Interactive (TWCI) is the leading provider of
broadband and wireless weather products including
weather.com,
The Weather Channel Desktop and
The Weather Channel Mobile. weather.com, the Web site of The
Weather Channel, is the ultimate source of weather on the Web
helping users plan their lives by delivering timely current
conditions, expert forecasts and relevant lifestyle content for
98,000 location IDs worldwide. TWCI
reaches more than 35 million unique users online each month and
is the most popular source of online weather, news and
information according to Nielsen//NetRatings. TWCI also
provides consumers with unique and customizable products such as
Desktop Weather, toolbars, extensions, widgets, gadgets, and a
full lineup of mobile services including downloads, messaging,
mobile Web, and mobile video. Other TWCi sites include
forGetaway.com, a vacation home rental site,
Forecast Earth, a site dedicated to the discussion of
climate change, and a series of international sites, including
www.weather.co.uk,
www.meteo123.com,
www.wetter123.com,
www.canaldotempo.com and
www.weather.com/espanol. For more information on The
Weather Channel Companies, including press releases, images,
executive information and backgrounders please visit
www.weather.com/press.
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) is a leading global
provider of technology- based solutions and agricultural
products that improve farm productivity and food quality.
Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and
large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while
conserving more of our world's natural resources such as water
and energy. To learn more about our business and our
commitments, please visit:
www.monsanto.com. |
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