Eric Snodgrass, Principal Atmospheric Scientist, Conduit Ag

Weather risk in production agriculture is ubiquitous and the
successful execution of a crop plan requires accurate weather
forecasting and analysis. We plan our operations based on weather
averages and our experiences over recent growing seasons, but each
year presents a new set of weather challenges. In this talk we will
focus on how to use the abundance of weather data to stay ahead to
disruptive weather events. We will talk about the limits of predictability
for weather events and learn about the resources available to monitor
changes in the longer-range forecasts. We will talk about disruptive
technologies in predictive analytics —like Artificial Intelligence. We
will review the major lessons from the 2024 growing season and talk
about the high impact eventslike widespread hail damage, tornadoes,
derechos, the late summer/early fall Midwest Drought, and the
hurricane season. We will talk about the big seasonal drivers like
El Niño and La Niña discuss the outlook for the next 3-9 months. We will
finish with a discussion about the 2024-25 growing season in South
America, which competes directly with major US commodity crops.