The technology will help growers allocate resources for harvest, possibly resulting in decreased costs or increased crop value. The technology is particularly suited to evaluation and management of large tracts of land for evaluating and managing newly-acquired fields. This procedure has been demonstrated in California s wine grape growing industry for evaluation of insect infestation and for harvest decision support. Technical Basics Traditional agricultural management is reliant on ground-based scouting to visually observe and record conditions. This is a laborious and inefficient way to map large areas.
Some growers use conventional film-based aerial photography.
However, information content of the photography is limited. Data collection options increase in 1998 and beyond, when planned commercial satellite systems begin to acquire high spatial resolution multi-spectral imagery. Commercial firms would provide value-added image processing and analysis services to extract useful agricultural information and deliver results and recommendations to growers or other customers. From 1993 to 1995, NASA ARC collaborated with university partners to develop remote sensing and image processing technologies as a tool for detection and management of phylloxera infestation. Analysis of data collected from test sites indicated that infestations were detectable in early stages.