ESA's TalkingFields guides European farmers from space

Farmers traditionally keep a close eye on their fields, but a new ESA-led project seeks to build on their vigilance with monitoring from space.
 
The TalkingFields initiative is now showing how to combine satellite observation with satellite navigation to benefit European farmers.

Sustainable food production and food security are critical challenges. TalkingFields will help by using precision farming methods to produce crops more efficiently. For instance, by optimising farmers’ use of fertiliser and giving early warning of plant disease risks, both costs and environmental impacts can be reduced.

How does it work? The farmer requests the service for an area defined using satnav. Satellites gather information on the land’s potential – observations over several years can reveal variations in crop growth through soil changes – as well as current crop status.

These results are combined with information from field sensors such as weather conditions and soil moisture. The farmer adds in his own knowledge, and in return receives detailed satnav instructions on where and how much fertiliser to spray, for example.

A variety of satellites can be employed, although priority will be given to free data sources such as Landsat and ESA’s forthcoming Sentinel-2 satellites, due for launch in 2012. 

TalkingFields is being supported through the Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme of ESA’s Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Directorate. 
 
 
IAP builds services for new groups of users by combining different space and terrestrial systems in novel ways.