Weather data tailored to help Michigan farmers is now available on a mobile app.
Enviroweather is a website that sources data from more than 100 weather stations across the state. Researchers at Michigan State University run the website and have created several applications that help farmers protect their crops.
Since the project’s inception in 2006, the information was only available to view on a traditional computer.
“Farmers are not sitting in an office all day, they're out in the fields working,” said Nancy Nyquist, the executive director for the Michigan Tree Fruit Commission.
Nyquist said growers around the state wanted a way to access the data on-the-go. She said farmers across the state utilize the software, but it is especially helpful for fruit growers to protect their trees from pests, low temperatures and diseases.
“It's a really a tool that can be a lifesaver truly for many growers and growers that fully use it,” Nyquist said.
The Tree Fruit Commission and Michigan State Horticulture Society helped secure specialty crop block grants through Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to fund the app’s development.
Keith Mason is the Enviroweather Coordinator. He said MSU’s AgBioResearch department designed and executed the creation of the app that launched in April, 2026.
“Because the app is here now, that's really satisfied a lot of what growers wanted from EnviroWeather,” Mason said. “It's all the same calculations and the same data go into it, but then the app displays it in a way that's much better on a phone.”
Mason said his team has developed seven new models to help Michigan growers that will soon be incorporated into the app.
Ben Smith is a farmer in southwest Michigan and the executive director for Michigan State Horticulture Society. He said the switch to a mobile app was essential for growers, including himself.
He said the software allows him to access local weather forecasts and equations that tell him when to apply sprays to protect his crops from diseases and insects.
“Farmers live in the weather, they work in the weather, and we survive by the weather,” Smith said. “Our fruit crops are grown based on what has happened with the weather. So, knowing what will happen accurately and locally is extremely important.”
WCMU's Rural Life and Agriculture reporting is made possible through the generous support of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
