Salient Predictions, a pioneer in weather forecasting analytics, has been awarded a $2.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Supporting smallholder farmers in East Africa through a collaboration with in-region technology and weather partners, Salient’s efforts with this investment will help to cost-effectively develop actionable sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) weather prediction to increase agricultural productivity and food security in East Africa amidst the challenges of a changing and volatile climate.
“Supporting smallholder farmers in East Africa is well aligned with Salient’s mission of enabling climate resiliency and responding to the challenges of our changing climate,” said Matt Stein, co-founder and CEO of Salient. “We look forward to providing better S2S forecasts for organizations striving to bolster food stability in the region by integrating data from ground-based weather stations.”
This investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is expected to contribute to the delivery of climate-informed decision support tools to help farmers adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Decisions such as what crop or variety to plant in advance of the growing season will enable a new level of planning for governments, agribusiness, and smallholder farmers based on forecasts of seasonal weather patterns rather than extrapolating from historical trends.
“We are thrilled to leverage Salient’s expertise and unlock the transformative potential of their next-generation sub-seasonal to seasonal weather forecasting in East Africa,” said Georgina Campbell Flatter, Executive Director at TomorrowNow, a 501(c)3 non-profit spinout of Tomorrow.io that connects next-generation weather and climate innovations with communities in need and an in-region partner of Salient. “Together with our partners, we endeavor to make a profound impact on the lives of millions of small-scale farmers.”
“Farmers play a pivotal role in ensuring food security and prosperity,” said Alex Sananka, Data Science Manager at One Acre Fund. “Currently, our weather forecasts in East Africa only extend up to 14 days ahead. We are excited about the availability of Salient’s S2S forecasting solution, which will enable us to provide more extended lead-time forecasts, better supporting millions of farmers in the region in deciding what crops and seed varieties to plant.”