You grow it, they map it

Talk about human history bookends: Growing food is as old as humanity itself (well, not quite: If we remember our high school history correctly, there was an earlier phase, the Palaeolithic period, during which humans were hunters-gatherers; domestication and agriculture marked the beginning of the Neolithic period); satellite imagery is very much a today’s phenomenon. Longmont, Colorado-based DigitalGlobe [see story in the first section] offers an interesting program for food growers: AgroWatch. The information the program develops should help growers make better (and certainly faster) crop management decisions, with the ensuing benefits in productivity and revenues. The company uses its satellites to create images of fields under contract, and then deliver these images through the Internet in the form of color-coded field maps.

AgroWatch offers quantified information on crop status, soil conditions, and rates of crop change throughout the field in areas as small as 2x2 feet. Satellite imagery not only can spot problems before they are visible to the naked eye, but the information may quantitatively compare current field conditions with last week’s, last month’s, or even last season’s conditions. What is more, the company’s satellites are never more than a day away from anyone’s field.

-learn more about the program at company Web site