Standing Committee on Services for Agriculture

About us

At its first meeting in 2020, the Commission for Weather, Climate, Hydrological, Marine, and Related Environmental Services and Applications (SERCOM) decided to establish the Standing Committee on Services for Agriculture (SC-AGR) for the first intersessional period. The SC-AGR was hence formed as a replacement of the former Commission on Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM), which successfully operated between 1999 - 2020. An overview of the proceedings of CAgM is provided here.

At the Third Session of the Commission for Weather, Climate, Hydrological, Marine and related Environmental Services and Applications (SERCOM-3) the terms of reference for the SC-AGR were revised and a further 4-year mandate provided to continue to support and enhance the agrometeorological activities of WMO.

The SC-AGR is composed of several technical experts from across the world, including the Chair (Dr James Ijampy Adamu from Nigeria) and Vice-chairs (Dr. Elena Mateescu from Romania and Prof. Yvette Everingham from Australia), selected from the WMO Expert Network by the President of the Commission. Other technical experts may be invited, on a needs basis, to serve as Observers on the Standing Committee, as determined by the chair or vice-chairs of the Committee in consultation with the president of the Services Commission. For the biography of the group members, click here.

Purpose of SC-AGR

The full terms of reference and expected outputs of the SC-AGR are included in the Abridged Final Report of the Third Session of the Commission for Weather, Climate, Hydrological, Marine and related Environmental Services and Applications (SERCOM-3) and more specifically in Document 5.2 on Review of the subsidiary bodies of the Commission. The TORs include the following key areas:

Review and update user needs and requirements on all aspects of agrometeorological services and practices across agricultural value chain & various agricultural sub-sectors (crops, livestock, forestry, rangelands, and fisheries sectors);
Review and update standards and guidance on all aspects of agrometeorological services and practices including drought;
Provide technical assistance to members and partners on enhancing climate services for agriculture and food security, in the context of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS);
Assess the WMO role in supporting the food security agenda and define possible related activities together with SC-CLI and SC-HYD;
Provide capacity building, technical advice, and tools to WMO Members on agrometeorological issues;
Provide scientific and technical advice to the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) and work with FAO and UNCCD.

Previously, the SC-AGR conducted its activities through five expert teams, however for this current cycle (2024-2027), the number of expert teams has been reduced to three, while task teams will be formed as needed throughout the cycle to address any specific outputs or tasks. The expert teams, as well as their composition, objectives, and working progress, are listed in the sections below.

Terms of Reference

(a) Review and update user needs and requirements on all aspects of agrometeorological services and practices across the agricultural value chain (farm-transport-milling-export/trading) and the various agricultural sub-sectors (crops, livestock, forestry, rangelands and fisheries sectors);

(b) Review and update standards and guidance on all aspects of agrometeorological services and practices across the agricultural value-chain and sub-sectors related to any relevant sub-groups of technical commissions, regional associations, Research Board, and Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS);

(c) Review existing standards and guidance material on drought management including monitoring, forecasting, and preparedness in liaison with the WMO/Global Water Partnership (GWP) Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) and the development of new components with regards to the Global Hydrological Status and Outlook System (HydroSOS), Global Multi-hazard Alert System (GMAS), the Annual WMO Statement on the Status of the Global Climate and other WMO initiatives, in cooperation with other relevant Standing Committees;

(d) Provide technical assistance to the various GFCS processes and projects on agriculture and food security;

(e) Assess the WMO role in supporting the food security agenda and define possible related activities together with SC-CLI and SC-HYD whilst ensuring that agrometeorological (including weather and climate) and agricultural hydrology (including water quality and quantity) components of all major projects related to agriculture, food security, and drought applications including the requirements of Regional Associations (RAs) and reflecting good and sustainable practices and methodologies are addressed;

(f) Provide capacity building, technical advice and tools to WMO Members to enable agricultural users, across the value chain, to adequately understand and use weather and climate information such as historical variability and trends, sub-seasonal and seasonal climate forecasts and climate change projections to address the impacts of climatic variability and change on agriculture;

(g) Foster the development and use of effective communication methods and channels for acquiring and disseminating agrometeorological information, providing advice and warnings to agricultural subsectors, and obtaining feedback, including through the further development of the World Agrometeorological Information Service;

(h) Provide scientific and technical advice to the WMO/GWP Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) and represent the WMO agricultural meteorology and drought communities at the IDMP governance meetings and United Nations related drought meetings (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD));

(i) Explore the development of a Joint Technical Working Group on Agrometeorology with FAO and/or World Food Programme (WFP) including assessment of pollution and deposition impact on food production sustainability.