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Title: DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM FOR INFORMATION TRANSFER TO THE VIRGINIA PEANUT AND COTTON INDUSTRY

Author
item Deck, Sydney
item PHIPPS, PATRICK - PROFESSOR, VIRGINIA TECH

Submitted to: Applied Engineering in Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/30/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Peanuts and cotton contribute over $100 million annually to the economy of southeastern Virginia. Intensive management is required because of their high market value and vulnerability to yield losses caused by insects, diseases, and weeds. Growers invested approximately $18.5 million in peanut and $8.5 million in cotton agricultural chemicals during the 1995 growing season to control pests. To maximize the efficiency of these chemicals, the growers need current information on local weather and crop growth. To meet this need, an electronic bulletin board system was developed to disseminate local weather and crop advisory information to county agents, growers, and the agricultural industry in southeastern Virginia. The Peanut/Cotton InfoNet bulletin board system (BBS) provides daily weather summaries, heat unit data, and crop information such as leaf spot and sclerotinial blight advisories. Frost advisories, corn earworm reports and updates concerning cultural practices and pesticide recommendations are also available on the BBS. During the initial test period (May 1 to November 10, 1995), over 60 users logged onto the system with a total of 984 calls and 1678 downloads. The leaf spot advisory and heat unit report recording was accessed 2,031 times. The system provides current information needed to optimize peanut and cotton production.

Technical Abstract: The Peanut/Cotton InfoNet, an electronic bulletin board system (BBS), was established at the Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center for the distribution of weather and crop information in southeastern Virginia. EnviroCaster (Neogen Corp., Lansing, MI) weather stations collected data and provided daily weather summaries, peanut leaf spot advisories, sclerotinia blight advisories and heat unit reports for peanut and cotton. Collected data included air temperature, wet bulb temperature, soil temperature at 5 cm (2 in) and 10 cm (4 in) depths, relative humidity, and rainfall. A data processing computer collected, processed, archived, and transferred useful information to the BBS computer. Frost advisories, corn earworm reports and updates concerning cultural practices and pesticide recommendations were also available on the BBS. Wildcat! software provided the user- friendly BBS interface. The system logged 984 calls and 1678 system downloads from county agent, grower, industry, and unspecified users in 1995. The InfoNet BBS system including eight weather stations, a BBS computer, and data processing computer cost approximately $53,000.00.