Primary producers in the Limestone Coast will soon benefit from new high-tech automatic weather stations as part of a regional investment by the State Government.

Forty-three new weather stations will build on the current Mesonet network of 70 stations across regional SA to help provide more farmers across South Australia with targeted weather data to better inform decision making.

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham said the new network will be a game changer for farmers at McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and the Limestone Coast.

“The Mesonet weather stations provide highly accurate and targeted weather data which can better inform decision making especially when it comes to using agricultural chemicals – saving our farmers hundreds of millions of dollars a year,” Minister Basham said.

“To be able to expand the Mesonet network to McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and the Limestone Coast will be a significant boost for farmers in these regions and the Marshall Liberal Government is pleased to provide $2.25m towards this project.

“Estimates currently put the potential loss of value of agricultural production from spray drift at over $160m a year in these regions so the expansion of the Mesonet network will have significant economic and environmental benefits.

“Having real time data at hand will assist farmers to identify the potential for weather patterns, enabling them to make responsible and informed decisions about when to spray or not.

“Where the Mesonet system has been operational over the past few years there has been a decline in the number of spray drift reports.”

The new weather stations will be established by the MacKillop Farm Management Group and COtL (Conditions Over the Landscape).