Forecasting the Future: How Benchmark Labs is Democratizing the World's Weather Data
Voices: An Interview with Carlos Gaitan, Benchmark Labs
Over here at Climate North, we’ve been having conversations with some of the most forward-thinking leaders in the climate space—conversations that are too important, too inspiring to keep within closed circles. So, we’re opening the doors and bringing you along. This isn’t just about storytelling; it’s a call to action, a community of ideas, and a reminder that the future we dream of is one we build together.
With that, we’re thrilled to introduce Voices by Climate North— our brand-new interview series celebrating the visionaries reshaping the climate landscape.
Kicking off this series, we’re honored to feature Dr. Carlos Gaitan, Co-founder and CEO of Benchmark Labs. Carlos and his team are revolutionizing precision weather forecasting, while empowering farmers and land managers to make smarter, more sustainable decisions in the face of a changing climate.
Tell us about Benchmark Labs and how it all got started?
We founded Benchmark Labs in 2019 to assist farmers and high-value asset managers implement more sustainable practices and help them save natural resources by using environmental forecasts that are tailored to their specific farms/fields or installations. We created the company after years working at NASA, hardware companies, and National Labs, where we heard first hand how dissatisfied many users were with the current generation of weather forecasts that do not correctly represent microclimates or what is happening at the farm scale; and because current weather offerings do not reflect in-field conditions, these asset owners suffer significant financial losses associated with operations, maintenance and agricultural inputs waste. I remember having conversations with farmers asking us to “just give them forecasts for their farms, not for the whole county, state or region”.
Our vision is to transform how weather data is used to approach global climate challenges through the use of novel technologies.
What is the mission that Benchmark Labs is on? What problem are you looking to solve?
Our mission is to provide the highest quality weather data to the world, powering sustainable innovation and conservation of natural resources. As mentioned earlier, because traditional weather forecasting approaches are unable to provide information at the farm level, farm managers -all over the world- are often making important financial decisions with sub-optimal information. This problem then leads to over or under irrigation, pesticide and fertilizer waste, and even health risks for the persons in charge of performing field labor, as they could be affected by heat strokes and dangerous environmental conditions, like bad air quality, without even knowing their exposure.
Watch this video to learn how Benchmark Lab’s technology works.
Why do you believe it’s important for people to be aware of this problem and have access to a business like yours?
I believe that having access to better weather forecasts should not be limited to a select few multibillion dollar corporations and that asset-owners all over the world should benefit from more actionable and relevant information. This is a global problem, and farmers, land managers, and asset operators all over the world will increase their margins and save innumerable amounts of agricultural inputs, water and energy resources by having access to our technology. Early adopters have already decreased their water consumption by 10% and in some cases increased their yields between 50 to 100%.
What projects or products are you most excited to expand on in 2025?
In 2025 we are excited about expanding our services to sectors beyond agriculture, especially the offshore wind industry. We also plan to grow 10x the number of wineries served as we released location specific pest and disease indices that will help them reduce the amount of pesticides used.
Can you tell us about some recent success stories/breakthroughs in the work you are doing?
Working alongside The Nature Conservancy, Fire Captains from the Forest Service and NASA scientists we were able to create a dashboard to help them better plan controlled burn activities to prevent catastrophic forest fires. Before using our solutions, fire captains and land managers performing controlled burns experienced a significant number of weather-related delays, as they often scheduled burn teams on days when the wind speeds were too high, or when the relative humidity was too low to perform, thus risking the safety of their crews as the weather conditions could make the fires more dangerous and unmanageable. As we provide location specific forecasts, they can visually plan their controlled burns on days where the weather conditions make them less risky. Also, by improving their labor scheduling they can send their burn teams to more favorable locations, save on costs associated with air suppression aircrafts and compliance.
What type of impact do you hope that Benchmark Labs will have on communities, ecosystems, and the planet at large?
With few tools available that provide site-specific weather data, farm managers and land owners continue to make critical decisions based on regional forecast information. Inaccurate forecasts give rise to a ripple effect – namely, unsustainable approaches to land management, lack of control in natural resource consumption, and faulty operational practices.
Our work impacts communities in so many positive ways, from helping labor to be scheduled when there are less health risks, to saving millions of gallons of water in irrigation that could be used for other purposes, especially in southern states and areas facing continuous drought conditions. Ecosystems also benefit from our work, as our users can reduce the number of days applying pesticides and can better time their fertilizer applications. For instance, if a farmer fertilizes before it rains, the nitrogen might end up affecting aquatic life as it gets washed-up, and the worst part is that the plants will still need to be fertilized later, so the farmers will have to write another check. To end, on the macro-scale we also help save energy and CO2 emissions as most of the water used in agriculture is pumped in the U.S., so any savings in water get translated into energy savings.
What motivates you to keep pushing forward in the face of challenges?
We are highly motivated to solve this problem as the national weather services all over the world are underfunded and they can not provide services tailored to each specific weather user. So it’s up to us and the private sector to solve this problem and keep pushing until we help farmers manage their farms with more accurate and actionable weather and environmental data.
Climate North is all about bringing people together to encourage real-time action. How can individuals, communities and/or other organizations support your efforts?
As a startup, we’re always on the lookout for VC funding and aligned investors. With that, we’re also always open to speaking to graduates and climate passionate individuals who are interested in working with us to gain valuable experience.
If you wanted people to walk away remembering one thing about the work you’re doing, what would you want it to be?
Farm managers all over the world are in charge of feeding our growing population, however, even in the 21st century, they experience significant financial losses because the weather forecasts that they receive are not tailored to their farms, and are only averages over a whole region. This leads to over or under irrigation, problems with labor scheduling and significant waste of pesticides and fertilizers. We want people and farm managers to remember that they are not alone, and that we will keep creating solutions to help them so their communities flourish, while also improving labor conditions and saving water resources.
Where can people stay in-the-know about Benchmark Labs?
Go to benchmarklabs.com or follow us on LinkedIn or X :)
About Carlos Gaitan
Dr. Gaitan is the Co-founder and CEO of Benchmark Labs. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia working on machine learning applications in the environmental sciences. He also holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's degree in hydrological systems from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogota, Colombia).
He was an elected member of the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Artificial Intelligence Committee. Before founding Benchmark Labs, he worked at early-stage start-ups in the environmental science field, including positions as VP of Weather Forecasting and Head of Data Science at Arable Labs, and as a Research Scientist at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, New Jersey.
Dr. Gaitan's work at Benchmark Labs aims to provide actionable weather forecasting and insights to high-value land managers whose operations are affected by weather variability and extreme events in the face of a changing climate.
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A great read!!