The Soil Conservation Service's field agent has made notations showing characteristics and yield for some of the crop acreage. As part of the preparation for the Landsat phase, NASA flew an aircraft mission with a multispectral scanner over fields in the Delmarva Peninsula to the south of the study site. Many of the photographs taken from the Shuttle by the astronauts have agricultural areas as their subject matter. Often these photos are not particularly good owing mainly to atmospheric problems. But this one covering the land around Enid, Kansas is one of the better.
Light tones indicate high NDVIs.
The next image is of cropland in Colorado's San Luis Valley. A classification of these Colorado crops is treated on page 13-10 . Soil moisture is one of the critical parameters a farmer needs to know in making decisions about planting conditions and need for irrigation. It is often the precursor indicator of potential or actual crop stress. This can be done through aerial photography, as shown here for some Indiana farms, but the cost of flying for specific water inventory is high.