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Big picture: MSU scientists design satellite data technology to help farmers boost yields

10/08/24
By: Erin Buckley

Mississippi State University researchers are developing CropVista, a satellite data–powered technology designed to provide near real–time field insights and boost on–farm productivity.

Supported by a $591,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, CropVista leverages harmonized Landsat–Sentinel–2 satellite images, which capture detailed views of Earth's surface every two to three days. By analyzing these satellite images, farmers can better understand crop growth and health of their fields, helping them make faster decisions about irrigation scheduling, fertilizer application and pest control. The online platform will deliver data from fields across 17 Southern and Midwest states, giving farmers easy access to climate and crop progress information.

"We aim to create a platform that makes it easy for farmers to visualize what's happening in their fields in near real time. The ultimate goal is to boost monitoring and productivity, especially in the face of challenges like climate change. This project will run for four years, but we're focused on developing something that lasts much longer than that," said Vitor Martins, assistant professor in MSU's Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and researcher in the university's Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. "We want to give farmers a platform that helps them succeed long after our research is done. "

MSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences Research Professor Raja Reddy, a coproject director on this study, said CropVista will enhance agriculture's resilience and achieving food security for the growing population through its user–friendly, science–based tools.

"The team uses the Google Cloud platform to access satellite data and pull time–series vegetation metrics from mapped fields," said Reddy, who is also a MAFES scientist. "Deep–learning models then process this data to determine planting schedules, harvest dates and spatial crop variability, helping farmers make informed decisions to improve crop management. "

Martins said the High–Performance Computing Collaboratory at MSU is crucial for accurately analyzing this information. MAFES's R.R. Foil Plant Science Research Center also provides a place to validate the research using ground information.

Other codirectors on this project are ABE Assistant Professor Xin Zhang and Postdoctoral Associates Uilson R. V. Aires and Lucas Ferreira.

For more information on the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, visit www.mafes.msstate.edu. The MSU Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Department of Plant and Soil Sciences are available online at www.abe.msstate.edu and www.pss.msstate.edu.

Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.

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