https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joQwx1T5kCo Hawke’s Bay-weather service Metris not only takes the guess work out of when Mother Nature might strike, it also provides fast and accurate data for helping growers maximise production. Hawke’s Bay’s Primary Sector Innovators of the Year Metris provides historical, real-time and forecast data to orchardists, grape growers and farmers across Hawke’s Bay. Metris means ‘ahead of the weather’ and as sales and service manager Paul Heaps says there are three important ingredients in growing great things from the land – “soil, water and sun” and “why would you not know as much as you can about all three.” Metris was founded over 25 years ago in Hawke’s Bay, firstly as a weather forecasting provider but now offering real time weather information via sophisticated on-site weather stations that use low powered wifi sensors. “This helps from protection from frost and disease and also helps with the science of growing, which is used by scientists and agronomists right here in the Bay. In a frost or disease event we will send an alert to the growers who will then use that information to decide on how to respond to that threat. Metris sends out 7000 emails of forecasts and data every week during the growing season. Metris is a service provider to many of the region’s largest primary sector producers, across horticulture, viticulture and agriculture. Like the region’s growers, Metris is committed to Hawke’s Bay being the best place to grow from the land. “Hawke’s Bay being the fruitbowl of New Zealand is why Metris operates so well here. We help people grow things from the ground in our awesome Hawke’s Bay soil and getting them out to the port and on a boat into the market overseas. We want this fruitbowl to be a big bowl not a small bowl.”