FNC and Cenicafé Launch Coffee Agro-Climatic Platform

Aside from providing historical and statistical information, Cenicafé´s automatic stations will reveal weather variables of Colombia’s coffee growing regions in close to real-time.

This new development is vital for supporting programs to help adapt Colombia´s coffee growing industry to climate change and variability.

Bogotá, August 20, 2014 (FNC Press) – The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) and its Coffee Research Center (Cenicafé) launched a Coffee Agro-Climatic Platform that will help coffee growers make better decisions based on the meteorological and geographical conditions of each coffee growing region. The innovative tool was developed with financial support from the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and technical support from the CIAgua Corporation.

The new Coffee Agro-Climatic Platform makes historical and statistical information readily available, in addition to current information provided by Cenicafe´s automatic stations so that coffee growers can access weather variables in close to real-time for different Colombian coffee growing regions. This is yet another development led by the FNC, an organization known to be at the forefront of technological developments for the coffee industry.

The platform is supported with historical data collected by Cenicafé through its 231 conventional and automated observation points. Cenicafé’s observation network is Colombia’s second largest climatic network and uses cutting edge measurement, transmission and computing technologies.

Information on air temperature, relative humidity, global solar radiation, photosynthetic active radiation, ultraviolet radiation, wind speed, precipitation, atmospheric pressure and soil moisture at two depths (12 cm and 30 cm) will be available through a friendly and easy to use website: (http://agroclima.cenicafe.org).

According to Carlos A. Uribe, FNC´s Chief Technical Officer, “The Coffee Agro-Climatic Platform provides the necessary tools and data for coffee growers to make better decisions. It complements the information we’ve been collecting for decades.”

“The platform’s data, Cenicafé’s analysis and the assistance and regular use by the 1,500 strong FNC Extension Service will help plan coffee plantations using the latest physical and biological indicators and set action priorities for each coffee growing region,” explained Mr. Uribe.

The Coffee Agro-Climatic Platform includes information from soils land use studies concerning most of Colombia’s coffee growing regions. This will support productive sustainability and decision-making regarding slope soil management and conservation.

This development is vital for supporting programs that foment mitigation and adaptation to climate variability and climate change. It will allow coffee growers and FNC extensionists to deploy regional programs and initiatives and to increase efficiency and accuracy when making decisions regarding crop management and production. Ultimately, the Coffee Agro-Climatic Platform will help prepare coffee growing for variability and future changes while enhancing sustainability and competitiveness.