CubeSats help maize farmers optimise fertilizer use

This is the conclusion of scientists at the University of Illinois who’ve shown that CubeSats can detect nitrogen stress, which potentially gives farmers an opportunity to plan in-season nitrogen fertilizer applications and alleviate nutrient stress.

"Using this technology, we can possibly see the nitrogen stress early on, before tasseling. That means farmers won't need to wait until the end of the season to see the impact of their nitrogen application decisions," said Kaiyu Guan, assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois and principal investigator on a new study published in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

Green machines: sowing the seeds of farming 4.0

Detecting and addressing changes in crop nutrient status in real time helps to avoid crop damage at critical periods and optimises yield. In general, existing satellite technology cannot achieve high spatial resolution and high revisiting frequency. According to the University, drones can detect nutrient status in real time, but they are usually restricted to covering local areas, which limits their utility.