“Keeping track of rainfall has been made way easier thanks to fieldmargin monitoring sites,” says Charl, SA. “We are currently struggling with a seven year drought, so sheep get moved from field to field a lot. I use fieldmargin to keep track of where all my sheep are and when they where moved between fields.”

Almost all agronomic decisions are affected by rain. Recording local rainfall, soil moisture and irrigation data is important to help conservation and sustainable management of water. In early 2018, over 15 million people from African countries ranging across the continent, including Somalia, Ethiopia, South Africa and Kenya, were affected by drought. We cannot make it rain, but climate-smart farming techniques, such as irrigation management, timings, the use of drought-tolerant seeds and intercropping can help farmers adapt.

Accurately tracking rainfall during a season is challenging as there can be very large differences across small distances. Forecasts and past rainfall data (when available) from government monitoring stations which can be very far away from your farm. Having a local rain gauge to measure rainfall drastically improves the accuracy of rain data. Recently we have spoken to farmers using fieldmargin data to record rain readings. Instead of using paper or notebooks they can add reading directly to a phone. The data is saved on the cloud and shared instantly. Find out how you can start doing the same ….

How to record rain readings on your mobile:

1. Set up monitoring sites

If you haven’t already first, map out your fields and any other features. Next, you can add data monitoring sites where you regularly take measurements. You can do this on our mobile and web app. You can add as many sites as you like and set up multiple metrics for a single location.

2. Record data by adding readings

Now you can simply add rainfall readings to the monitoring sites when you are out on the farm using mobile. When you take a reading the date and time is automatically saved. You can edit the date to add historic farm data to your records.

3. Analyse and share data

Easily view a log of measurements and see changes over time using graphs and history on the web version. These can be viewed over the past week, month and year.  Access your data anywhere using your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Make sure you have invited your team to your farm so you can instantly share the data collected with the team on your farm. You can find instructions to invite your team here.

Get started

Interested in using fieldmargin to monitor your rainfall but need more help? Get in touch and we will be happy to give you further advice.

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