Better Farming February 2017

SATELLITE

IMAGERY

meet the limitations of the equip-

ment. There is a place for both

high-resolution imagery for under-

standing very detailed responses in

the field, and less-detailed imagery

looking for trends in the field for

zone management purposes.”

Conclusions

Satellite imagery is finding a place in

many areas of the agricultural industry.

Government groups, provincial

groups, academia, agricultural

insurance companies and industry

organizations and participants use

satellite imagery for data collection,

says Davidson.

Schacht also notes the uses of this

imagery. “Agricultural (commodity

analysts) have been interested in the

imagery. They use the data to assess

global yields and crop supplies.”

Crop insurers have also been

considering the benefits of the data.

“They are looking into automating

claims. They could pick (weather

damage) on the imagery such as

where the damage happened and how

much,” says Schacht. “It’s a big time

and cost saver.”

Schacht even has a customer who is

now looking into using the imagery to

automate an irrigation system.

It seems the possibilities for the use

of satellite imagery for Ontario`s farm-

ers continue to evolve.

With applications such as this health map, data

from the NDVI of a field is digitally translated into

simple colour zones for easier interpretation.

With near-infrared images, dense green vegetation

reflects the infrared light, shown on the image as

red. This image shows Lethbridge, Alberta in 2015.

Planet Labs Inc photo

Richard Marsh, Farmers Edge photo