Minnesota launches 14 new weather stations in southern Minnesota to provide farmers with more data

Fourteen brand new weather stations are up and running across Minnesota this year.

They're part of the state's Agricultural Weather Network, which is expanding to provide farmers with even more data.

"We're measuring everything between 33 feet above the ground surface to seven feet below the ground surface," said Jeppe Kjaersgaard, a research scientist with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

That includes extra information about wind, radiation, soil temperature and moisture that isn't normally collected by existing sensors at airports.

"It's useful for the farmers, both in terms of helping them manage some of their inputs, so that is water for irrigation, fertilizer and manure, but it's also useful for the broader society," said Kjaersgaard.

That's because the data and pictures