A new generation of farmers can use aerial and satellite remote sensing imagery to help them manage their croplands more efficiently. By measuring precisely the way their fields reflect and emit energy in the visible and infrared wavelengths, precision farmers can monitor a wide range of variables that affect their crops. The management of their cropland can be adjusted dynamically based on the crop and environment status in their field. The key to precision farming is to acquire crop and environment information effectively. With the background of an extremely complex agricultural landscape in China, the limitations on applying remote sensing in field level crop and environment parameter monitoring to support precision farming were analyzed in detail and three major factors were identified: temporal and spatial resolution, accuracy and information dissemination service. A pilot study was provided in Yucheng, Shangdong Province of China. The crop and environment information were acquired instantly with remote sensing and delivered to farmers through a portable information servicing system. The information service has been proved to be effective in improving farmers' production while reducing the negative impacts of farming on the environment that are due to overapplication of chemicals.

Date Published: 3 November 2010
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7841, Sixth International Symposium on Digital Earth: Data Processing and Applications, 78410W (3 November 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.873235

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7841:
Sixth International Symposium on Digital Earth: Data Processing and Applications
Huadong Guo; Changlin Wang, Editor(s)