Prime Minister John Key and Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce had a surprise meeting at NIWA's Fieldays stand today.
Both men were touring Fieldays at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton, when Mr Key spotted Mr Joyce attempting to give a weather forecast in front of NIWA's new high-resolution forecasting screens. With Mr Key offering helpful presentation tips, Mr Joyce forecast more wind and rain for the four-day agricultural event with an improvement expected on Friday and Saturday.
The men were then shown NIWA's latest tailored weather forecasting tool for farmers. Called FarmMet, the online system is able to provide localised, accurate and up-to-date weather forecasts for individual farms.
Mr Key commented that a tailored weather forecast would be particularly useful for his golf club. NIWA is looking to expand its product range and may look at the golf market in the future.
Read more about NIWA's FarmMet forecasting tool
