The human eye cannot see in the near-infrared and crop stress in its initial phase is therefore often observed too late. This information can be used for early warning detection of crop stress or failure. A healthy crop reflects most of the near-infrared radiation, whereas a crop under stressed conditions adsorbs this type of radiation. The amount of near-infrared radiation that is reflected by plants is a good indicator of the condition and healthiness of the crop. Combined with the ultra-high resolution of low-flying drones (2-10 cm) and the precise timing of monitoring, an early-warning system is available.Ī drone in a field, with farmers trained on using this technology (image: HiView)Ĭrops absorb parts of the total incoming solar radiation as a source of energy to produce biomass (photosynthesis). Dutch startup HiView uses near-infrared Flying Sensors imagery, that detects early-warning crop stress over entire farms and fields. The benefits of using drone technology is its flexibility, unhampered by cloud coverage and at relatively low cost. Dutch startup uses drones for crop monitoringĭrones provide an unrivaled solution to collect information for early warning detection of crop stress or failure.
Drone photography helps detect weeds, pests, and soil changes, determine plant height, and generally assess plant health. Benefitsĭrones take high-resolution images that need to be merged into a single orthophoto, or photographic map of the area that has been geometrically corrected to make the scale uniform. In the late 1990s, Japan and South Korea began to use drones to survey fields and spray fertilizers and plant protection products (PPP). When these devices became more affordable, they started to be used in agriculture, as well. Small drones appeared in the 1980s and were first used for military purposes. The OneSoil app (video source: OneSoil) 2. This helps farmers outline field boundaries, view the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), identify productivity zones, and create maps for variable-rate seeding and fertilizer application. OneSoil collects open data from the Sentinel-2 satellite, processes it, calculates various indicators, and displays them in the OneSoil app. Other examples in the Netherlands include the Groenmonitor (Dutch) and Akkerweb (Login required).
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The satellite data is available online as open data on the Dutch satellite data portal, allowing everyone to have free access to it. Specialised companies can analyse the data to provide farmers with targeted advice on irrigation, fertilisation and crop-spraying activities. Among other things, this type of data contains detailed information about the soil, the atmosphere and crop development. In 2017 the Dutch government announced it was freeing up 1.4 million euro for the purchase of satellite data to improve the sustainability and efficiency of farming. Dutch Government invests in satellite data for agriculture Satellite monitoring makes it possible to remotely monitor plant development using NDVI, CCCI, NDRE, MSAVI, and other vegetation indices, find problem areas in the field, identify crops, and predict yield. However, image quality still suffers during cloudy weather, and there’s no solution for this yet that works everywhere on earth. Secondly, with the invention of smartphones and apps for farmers, technology became more affordable, allowing any farmer in the world to monitor the NDVI index in their fields.
Firstly, this new resolution provides a clear picture of what’s really happening in different areas of a field. The next breakthrough in satellite use for farmers came in 2015, when a satellite with a spatial resolution of 10 meters became available. Image accuracy was about 50 meters, and NDVI couldn’t be calculated in cloudy weather.
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But 50 years ago, the NDVI index couldn’t be used to its full potential. That’s when scientists calculated the NDVI index that helps farmers understand what’s happening with plants in their fields. In the 1970s, satellites started being used for agricultural needs. The first satellite was launched into space back in 1957. This article is based on a post on the OneSoil blog, edited and republished with permission. Here are four new technologies for agriculture. Machinery is automated, seed and fertilizer rates can be calculated automatically, and satellite images are used to determine plant conditions. Agriculture is gradually becoming technologically advanced.
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