Agustin Gimenez,José Pedro Castaño, INIA, Unidad de Agroclima y Sistemas de Informacón (GRAS), agimenez@inia.org.uy
SUMMARY
Cattle beef production in areas with natural pastures is very important in Uruguay. Monitoring water soil content status in natural pastures areas is a key issue for planning and decision making at farm and government level, to prevent production losses. The Climate and Information Systems Unit (GRAS) of the National Agricultural Research Institute (INIA) of Uruguay, jointly with other national and international Institutions (MGAP, DNM, IRI), has been developing an Information and Decision Support System (IDSS) for monitoring soil water availability status using a Soil Water Balance Model. Data and maps including soil water availability estimated values are monthly published by GRAS in the web page www.inia.org.uy/gras/ visited by more than 2,000 users per day, and a written bulletin is sent by email each month to more than 25,000 users.
Key Words: soil water balance, natural pastures, soil water content monitoring.