Precision agriculture techniques are becoming more common as producers realize the financial benefits of managing their fields according to site specific conditions. For example, constant fertilizer application rates over entire fields can lead to inefficient coverage, with many parts of the field being under-applied or over-applied. This often leads to less than maximum yields and an application of more fertilizer than was necessary. In order to reduce the costs of increasingly-expensive fertilizer, farmers have begun to rely heavily on technologies such as GPS and tractor-mounted sensors. Enviro-Geo works with clients to develop airborne- and satellite-derived products that can be beneficial for the following precision agriculture applications:

While farmers and crop scouts have an irreplaceable and intimate knowledge of the land from their experience of working and analyzing the fields, remotely-sensed data provides a different way to visualize the landscape. Remote sensing data can provide farmers and scouts with a means to quickly identify areas within the fields that may require site visits for further testing and analysis.

Within an individual field, varying soil conditions can greatly impact the flows of applied nitrogen. Constant fertilizer application rates are becoming increasingly inefficient as producers face escalating fertilizer costs and regulatory pressures to minimize nitrogen losses. Certain remote sensing datasets are sensitive to a crop’s nitrogen status and can be used to provide site-specific requirements.

Airborne sensors can be used to detect within-field areas of crop stress due to insects, disease, or deficiencies of nitrogen and/or water. These areas of crop stress can often be detected from the airborne data before the plant is showing any visible signs of stress. These datasets can provide farmers with more time to address stressed crops before the damage becomes irreversible.