Thanks to the use of satellite images we can obtain valuable information to monitor farms & fields, and make decisions to optimize agricultural production.

Some examples of the most common applications are:

• Monitor the state of the crop continuously and regularly throughout the cycle.
• Know the evolution of the field in past seasons using the image archive.
• Create management zones, based on the variability of the crop. 
• To detect anomalies, weeds and/or damage made by pests or diseases. 
• Support emergency plant assessment and replanting decisions.
• Detect irrigation problems or areas affected by surface water. 
• Support refertilization decisions.
• Estimate yields.

This is done using indexes maps generated from image processing, which indicate different aspects of the evolution of the crop.

NDVI

One of the most widely used indexes is the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI), which is an indicator of biomass or crop vigor.

The sequence of images below illustrates the evolution of NDVI in a soybean field, from pre-planting to pre-harvest.