Agricultural biometeorology

Summary A more scientific approach to agriculture generally, coupled with the interest of the emergent nations of the world in a planned rural development, has led to a boom in agricultural meteorology. Major developments include an improvement in interdisciplinary communication at both the national and international level, a move toward standardization with the publication of the WMO GUIDE TO AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGICAL PRACTICES, and the application of the principles of agroclimatic classification, in a pilot project, to the arid and semi-arid zones of the Near East. Other advances are recorded in such questions as the responses of crops and farm animals to weather conditions, the forecasting of agricultural diseases and pests, and the effect of environmental factors on the storage of agricultural products. An intensified research effort is being devoted to long-term weather forecasting for agriculture,and to questions of soil moisture balance.