Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre
Bundaberg growing regions
100 sqkm
WorldView-3, Maxar Technologies
Tasking, Orthorectification, Pansharpening, Spectral Analysis
The Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre (AARSC) research team from the University of New England is a group of researchers specialising in the use of remote sensing technology in agriculture. The team has been working on a project for Avocados Australia Limited, funded by Hort Innovation, to develop a mobile application that provides avocado growers with up-to-date high-resolution satellite imagery for seasonal yield estimation.
To develop an accurate yield forecasting system for avocado growers, the AARSC team required high-resolution satellite imagery that could be calibrated for individual tree-level analysis. The team required sophisticated analysis of more bands to identify individual trees and accurately forecast yield.
To address the challenge, the AARSC research team led by Dr Moshiur Rahman purchased WorldView-3 multispectral (1.24m) imagery from Geoimage, which was then pansharpened to 31cm. Using this high-resolution imagery, the team was able to develop a more accurate methodology for yield forecasting at the orchard level. The processed imagery, along with yield forecasts, was then delivered to growers via a mobile application called Crop Count.
By using WorldView-3 multispectral imagery, the AARSC research team was able to provide avocado growers with accurate yield forecasting, fruit size, and tree health maps at the individual tree level. This allowed growers to better plan labour and storage requirements for harvest, leading to significant cost and time savings.
The benefits of having an accurate yield forecast include cost and time savings, the ability to forward sell crops, and better planning for labour and storage requirements. The Crop Count mobile application, developed by AARSC in collaboration with Circul8, is currently being commercialised for avocado growers, with the potential to expand to other crops and industries such as mango and citrus. The use of high-resolution imagery such as WorldView-3 multispectral imagery provided by Geoimage can be used to support the accuracy of yield forecasting and improve crop management practices.