Project Number: 6204-11660-006-01
Project Type: Specific C/A

Start Date: Sep 01, 2001
End Date: Dec 31, 2004

Objective:
Integrate airborne multispectral and hyperspectral imagery, GPS, and GIS technologies with precision agriculture for mapping and managing withinfield plant growth and yield variability. Specifically, 1) develop methodologies to map plant growth and yield variability for grain sorghum, corn, and cotton; 2) determine interrelations among yields, airborne imagery, soil data, and pest conditions in agricultural crops; and 3) evaluate agronomic and economic viability of variable rate applications.

Approach:
Airborne remote sensing imaging systems, in conjunction with GPS, GIS, yield monitoring systems, image processing, and ground sampling techniques, will be used to identify within-field spatial and temporal variability. Multispectral (3-5 bands) and hyperspectral (128 bands) images, yield monitor data, ground reflectance and soil data will be collected from various grain sorghum, cotton, and corn fields owned and operated by Rio Farms, Inc. in Monte Alto, TX. These new data, together with the data from the previous seasons, will be used to evaluate the consistency of spatial patterns within fields and to determine the relationships among the variables. Variable rate fertilizer plans derived from the airborne imagery, yield maps, and soil data will be implemented by a variable rate applicator to evaluate the agronomic and economic viability of variable rate fertilizer applications.

Project Team

Everitt, James Chenghai Yang - Agricultural Engineer (956)969-4812

Project Annual Reports

FY 2003   FY 2002

Related National Programs

Integrated Farming Systems (207)