The world of precision farming is ever changing, always growing and adapting to the challenges of agriculture as they arise and develop. One such challenge is collecting accurate data and then being able to interpret it in a way that not only helps farmers learn and understand but also gives them all the knowledge tools they need to make a real difference come harvest time.

Perhaps surprisingly, the solution to this particular challenge has come by way of satellites, orbiting the Earth at around 400 miles up. These sophisticated bits of tech are collecting, mapping and channelling important information about farms and farmers are beginning to see big pay offs.

How Satellites Are Helping

Since 2014 there have been a number of satellites that are providing crucial information to agricultural databanks. These include high resolution imaging satellites such as Sentinel 1 and 2 along with Landsat-8. With the advanced data storage methods, it is now easier than before to store plenty of data in one place i.e. cloud storage. This storage and the unique satellite capabilities have seen a huge amount of accurate and vital data being stored in unprecedented levels.

All of this data can then be utilised and accessed by agricultural schools, universities and research facilities the world over to build an accurate picture of how we are faring when it comes to producing on our farms.

These facilities would also employ the use of drones to corroborate satellite imagery and before long the data collected was so substantial and so valuable that it became a key area of investment for big agricultural companies. These same companies developed ways that allowed farmers access to information that could help them on their individual farms. Some providing satellite mapping services, others providing satellite-based crop monitoring and some providing key information from datasets to allow farmers the opportunity to make informed decisions.

Advantages of Satellites

From a ground perspective it is very difficult to collate a lot of information quickly, accurately and in a manner that can be instantly stored. For example; a ground reconnaissance vehicle will cost a lot to put into operation, will not be able to easily identify all crops, will only have a limited field of vision and will then have to upload any data it has collected at the end of the day on to a database.

Although the initial cost of putting a satellite into orbit is very high, once in orbit it requires very little financial expenditure to maintain. A set of data collection vehicles will always have initial purchase costs along with ongoing maintenance and fuel costs.

Satellites have advantages in 3 other key areas above and beyond those we have just mentioned.

• Progressive Data Analysis. Because a satellite orbits, it will circle and cover an individual area of land more than once over the course of a growing season. This means farmers not only get a snapshot of how their farm is but will get a sequence of snapshots of the farms performance. The Sentinel satellites for example provide images every 6 days of any given location.
• More Accurate. Satellite imagery provides a more detailed and more accurate picture of any given field. It highlights things across many different criteria, from crop type, crop health, irrigation and problem areas.
• Because a satellite image can capture weather fronts, it is able to give farmers a real time assessment of which weather is imminent.

Satellites Have Disadvantages Too

Because weather systems can sometimes obscure imagery it is sometimes difficult for satellites to either map an area or build up an accurate picture. In Ukraine, research facilities consistently send up drones to verify information collected by satellites as well as fill in data gaps. This means that satellites are extremely useful, but another data collection tool should also be there to back up the information collected by the satellites.

It is also very data intensive. Because satellites are harvesting so much data and not really able to discern for themselves which data is important, there is a lot of information that goes through the processing system. Primarily this has an internet speed issue as there is a lot of information that is transmitted from the satellite via the internet to the cloud. Research facilities and agriculture companies are investing where they can in internet infrastructure to counter this problem as it can sometimes cause delays or backlogs of information in the system.

Secondary to the internet issue is that there is a lot of information on the back end that is relatively useless and a lot that has to be sifted through. This is another reason why drones are employed to cover areas of interest as the information collected can then be correlated to specific satellite data.

The last issue is crop identification. Whilst imagery from a ground vehicle can sometimes be difficult to read, satellite imagery can often be as tricky. Depending on the crop, sometimes researchers are having great difficulty establishing exactly which crop is being grown in any given field.

Where Satellites Are Going

The disadvantages are actively being worked on, and researchers are hoping to have farmers volunteer information via big data apps about the crops they are growing in return for access to the big data information that the satellites collect.

The internet issues should ease with further investment and the drones do a great job of picking up the slack from satellites. When weather is concerned, there is new tech being implemented to use radars to map instead of relying on imagery. This isn’t the ideal solution, but it does allow data to be collected when previously none could be.

Satellites are beginning to take a more prominent role in collecting data and helping us understand the challenges of farming. We think the only way is up for them.