Memberfor South West Region Nigel Hallett has called on the WA government to immediately release funds available through the government's agricultural election policies to build a comprehensive Doppler radar network (DRT).

DRT is considered a necessary component in applying for Crop Mitigation Insurance (CMI), and according to Mr Hallet would significantly boost the likelihood of the introduction of a range of CMI products in the WA market.

Mr Hallett said funds available through government's $10m Helping Grain Growers Better Manage Risk policy for the development of DRT, could help farmers to identify seasonal risks and conditions and improve their farming capability.

In an address to State Parliament last week, Mr Hallett reiterated the importance of DRT, which provides data at an improved resolution to existing radars and advanced weather forecast and warning services.

Mr Hallett said the advantages of DRT capability extended beyond agribusiness to emergency services, mining operations, aviation and marine industries.

"I find it quite strange that the rest of the world is using a system such as Doppler radar but WA does not have a single station," Mr Hallet said.

"The other States use it extensively and one would have to question why we have missed the boat."

Mr Hallett said the instant imaging technology would give farmers the opportunity to plan and manage on-farm risk.

"It would provide the opportunity to protect their balance sheets in that if their forecasts are not right they can cut their costs," he said.

"With Doppler radar we would get to the other end of the season and know the soil temperature, moisture and yield.

"Say there was only three or four days of moisture in the soil, we would know not to apply any more nitrogen.

"If the season is tailing off, we know we can cut our costs at the other end."

Making reference to a Canadian study conducted in 1999, Mr Hallett said Canadian farmers were picking up about $100 hectare a year as a result of the precipitation forecasts.

"If we related that back to WA's 12 million hectares, that would put, approximately, an extra $1 billion into the economy," he said.

"If we wanted to have Doppler radar property throughout the whole of WA, it would cost about $20 million.

"With just a little help from my good friend the Minister, I found $10m that I think could help us pop up a couple of stations."

Mr Hallett said there were 150 Doppler radars scattered throughout the US, the United Kingdom had seven Doppler radars that were being upgraded to dual polarisation, while France had dual and triple polarisation.

"We are a long way behind in this technology, and I certainly encourage the State government to track this technology and make it available to WA growers," he said.

At a cost of about $3.5million each (installed), Mr Hallet has since suggested the government has sufficient funds through the 2013-14 budget in the Department of Agriculture and Food Royalties for Regions forward estimates to build six new Doppler radars, upgrade existing Perth and Kalgoorlie radars to Doppler technology and develop a comprehensive network of automated weather and soil moisture measuring stations.

And an investment of $25m over the next three years to construct a network of six stations would create a series of world class radar-based applications in WA.

Mr Hallett also highlighted the installation of two Doppler weather monitoring radar stations in the eastern Wheatbelt as a priority, which would enable the Bureau of Meteorology and farmers to forecast drought and heavy rainfall more effectively.

He said farmers were losing faith in the political process following ongoing delays not only with the State government's Royalties for Regions funding, but the roll out of the Federal Government's concessional loan scheme.

And both sources of funding could play a critical role in the establishment of CMI in WA.

"Some months ago I wrote to the Minister for Agriculture and Food outlining the importance of DRT, which is an essential component to building yield-based insurance products and attracting more CMI companies into the Australian market," Mr Hallett said.

Companies that would offer yield-based CMI require DRT to provide high resolution data that provides farmers with the most advanced way to get insight into their paddocks and dramatically improve production decisions.

Potential CMI provider Swiss Re and its US partner The Climate Corporation, labelled WA's weather stations yesterday's technology and supported government funds for DRT.

He said weather stations could not provide weather, soil and crop data needed for a yield-based, computerised product at a competitive price.

Mr Hallett's comments contrast statements made by The Nationals WA MP Shane Love to Farm Weekly last week.

Mr Love said while The Nationals supported the technology that was needed to support CMI information gathering, the digital radar in place was sufficient for the task.

Mr Love said that digital radar was similar to DRT but was a simple add-on to radars being deployed.

Mr Hallett saw merit in providing farmers access to the latest round of concessional loans, which he claims should include compulsory income based Crop Mitigation Insurance (CMI) to assist grain growers to trade their way out of increasing debt levels.

He said farmers interested in income-based insurance products could use a portion of their concessional loan to underwrite the CMI policy.

The audit process required for this type of product would eliminate high risk farmers.

CMI would not only enable farmers to provide sufficient security of the loan, but dramatically reduce their inability to repay the debt.

Source - Farm Weekly