Farmers gaining access to latest satellite technology
LETHBRIDGE – An eye in the sky has the potential to give farmers an ever-growing ability to stay on top of crop conditions.
Winnipeg-based Farmers Edge has struck a deal wtih Planet, giving it the exclusive rights to high-resolution imagery from the company and its three satellite constellations. It means rather than having access to images as much as a month old, producers will have access to data that’s updated as often as every day.
“We see it as game-changing,” Farmers Edge chief operating officer Patrick Crampton said. Crampton explained it’s typical with the commonly available satellite images to use the information after the fact, to try to find out what went wrong. Now growers can get real time info, with a resolution of 3.8 m or even sub-metre.
The new satellite data can now be combined with Farmers Edge’s processing technology to allow producers to make decisions in real time. Crampton added that cloud cover is the only limitation to getting new images on a daily basis.