A significant portion of a Wisconsin soybean grower’s life is dictated by the weather. 

“Do I need to pull an all-nighter in the planter to beat tomorrow’s rain?” 

“What’s the speed and direction of the wind? Can I spray?” 

“Is the temperature going to drop below freezing tonight? How will that affect what time I can start combining?” 

While some may sense the impending rain when their knee starts aching, the Wisconsin Environmental Mesonet (Wisconet) is swooping in to provide growers across the state with high-quality weather data.  

“I can get weather information on my phone anytime that I want, but with Wisconet I can get updated information every five to 10 minutes from a variety of locations across Wisconsin,” Wisconet Director Chris Kucharik said.   

Wisconet’s story began in the mid 1980s when Bill Bland, a faculty member in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Soil Science, initiated a smaller network of weather stations, which peaked at around a dozen in the mid-1990s. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, funding became problematic, and the stations were reduced to the Arlington and Hancock stations.  

In 2021, a Wisconet revival commenced when Kucharik took the reins and worked alongside past UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education Steve Ackerman to secure funding for a network expansion. 

“Around 2021, Steve Ackerman helped me get a foot in the door with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and WARF eventually asked me to submit a proposal, which led to an infrastructure grant for Wisconet,” Kucharik said. “Then, in January 2023, UW-Madison became part of a three-state agricultural appropriations effort and with the help of Senator (Tammy) Baldwin’s office secured Rural Partnerships Institute funding through the USDA to help support the build out the environmental mesonet in Wisconsin.” 

Crucial information  

The Arlington and Hancock Research Stations are home to the two longest-running Wisconet stations and have provided data since 1985. Today, there are 61 Wisconet stations, each providing more than a dozen measurements every five minutes. Meteorological measurements include temperature, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, dew point and barometric pressure, among others. 

Atmospheric weather can have farmers looking at the sky and wondering, “Why?” But they also must heed the soil conditions. Just because it’s a beautiful 75-degree spring day doesn’t mean the soil is above 50 degrees and conducive to germination quite yet. Luckily, Wisconet has farmers covered. 

“We’re also adding a suite of soil environmental data on temperature and moisture down to three feet below the surface, which you can’t get anywhere on your phone,” Kucharik said. “That information is crucial to farming.” 

The future of Wisconet is bright. By the end of summer 2025, the network plans to expand to 80 weather stations across the state and will continue developing decision support tools from the raw data to aid growers.  

“If you’re worried about insects or disease, you can track the growing degree days associated with the biological development of those things,” Kucharik said. “Or you can use the data to help understand plant development. And as time goes on, we’re working on an animal thermal comfort index with colleagues in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science which will help the dairy industry understand what their animals are facing in terms of the temperature and combined effects of humidity on their health.” 

As Wisconet continues to expand its services, the more growers that use it, the better. 

“We want people to be using this data so that we can track what region of the state people are downloading the data from and how they’re using it,” Kucharik said. “That’s important for us as we continue to seek long-term sustained funding. We need to be able to demonstrate its impact.” 

Farmers can’t control the weather but with Wisconet, they can equip themselves with the information needed to mitigate adverse effects, and in some cases, use the weather to their advantage.