Crop Monitoring
Crop Monitoring has been designed to make the user’s experience as easy and as practical as possible. We understand the client’s need for instant feedback on any changes to the conditions of their crops. At the same time, we know how frustrating an accumulation of spam in your mailbox can be.
With that in mind, the software has been equipped with a special Notification manager tab. There, you can adjust the mode and rate of getting notified about the issues that actually require your attention.
This index truly is a guardian angel for your crops. Any detectable change in its value can tell you something interesting. If you know your crops well enough, you should also understand the critical points of their NDVI value changes.
You can select between five different index change values:
You can also type any value from 0 to 100 in the value change bar.
These are the minimum value changes to which the system will react by sending a notification to your email. For example, if you believe that anything below a 14% value change for this particular crop is not critical, you can set the minimum to 14%. As a result, the system won’t notify you about any value changes lower than 14.0%, viewing them as acceptable parameters.
Sometimes you know for sure that your field is healthy, or perhaps inactive. To avoid irritating or meaningless notifications, just click “mute.”
Once done, make sure the word “Mute” appears in the Email notifications bar at the top of the screen.
As soon as you know it’s time to monitor your crops again, switch back to “New Image”.
Speaking of new images, ideally Sentinel-2 captures a new image of the same AOI (area of interest) every 5 days. However, cloud coverage may significantly obstruct the view. Even the most advanced technologies today can’t guarantee a clear sky over your field every five days. It may take a few days or a few weeks for things to clear up. Either way, the satellite will do its job on schedule, and, weather permitting, the new image will reflect the correct changes of the NDVI value.
Crop Monitoring is designed to notify you about vegetation index value changes over time. The exact period of time to measure the change is calculated as a difference between the latest date of the image having been taken and the date previous to the last one.
To see the date of the latest image, check the calendar in the top right corner.
Clicking on the calendar icon will show you the latest available dates for when images were last taken for various fields. Generally, the more fields you have in the list, the higher the variety of these dates will be.
You are looking for the dates highlighted in white here. Note that you cannot see all of the fields in the Notification tab at the same time because of the variety among the dates.
Our Notification manager is designed to be as user-friendly as possible. You can change the arrangement of the fields in the list, according to the following characteristics:
You can arrange the fields according to their names in either ascending or descending alphabetical order. Click “Field Name” and wait a moment for the list to fully rearrange itself.
For your convenience, you can also arrange fields according to their geographical location in alphabetical order. Click “Location” and let the system load the new arrangement. Check the “Coordinates” column to see the exact figures.
To arrange the fields according to their field area, least to greatest or vice versa, click “Field Area.” Area is in hectares (ha), given you are using the SI (International System of Units), or in acres (ac), as per the Imperial System.
To switch from SI to Imperial, go to Settings at the bottom right of the screen. The button looks like a cogwheel.
Next, you need to open the “Unit System” bar in the pop-up settings window by clicking the drop-down icon on the right.
Finally, select between the two available unit systems.
Perhaps you want to see your fields arranged according to their NDVI value. No sweat! Click “Index” and see the fields rearrange accordingly, from least to greatest.
Alternatively, you can click the downward arrow on the Index button to arrange the fields from the greatest index up at the top, down to the least. Depending on which arrow (upward/downward) is highlighted in white, you will know whether the order is ascending or descending.
Last but not least is the arrangement according to NDVI value changes. Whether you want to focus on the fields with the most value change or vice versa, just click the Value change button and select the appropriate arrow.
We have done our best to help you maintain the balance between getting notified and not getting annoyed by alerts. To achieve that, we let the user decide which notifications are important and which are not. Thus, you will get notified according to your own settings. Mute the notifications altogether or wait for a new image. Additionally, you can arrange the list of your fields according to field name, location (coordinates), field area, NDVI index, and value change. Enjoy getting notifications from Crop Monitoring, save time, and manage your fields with less effort.
Learn the key takeaways from the webinar on precision agriculture improving livelihoods and increasing yields in Africa, hosted jointly by EOS Data Analytics and Agroxchange Technology.
Clouds are often obstacles for optical NDVI, which negatively affect image quality and data analytics. Cloud-free NDVI helps resolve the problem as it uses radar-based imagery. This way it is possible to get accurate data even with cloud cover.
EOS Data Analytics and AgroXchange host a free webinar to discuss how to accelerate the socio-economic well-being of smallholder farmers in Africa through precision farming technologies implementation.
Terrace farming is the most sustainable practice for wavy and sloped fields. Its implementation allows farmers to prevent or reduce soil erosion and contributes to soil conservation.
Soil aeration is important for proper root growth. Different methods of soil aeration promote oxygen supply to the root zone, thus increasing crop productivity. Monitoring fields helps understand aeration necessity and prevent yield losses.
Strip cropping agriculture helps in soil conservation and brings additional benefits to farmers. The approach is more feasible to implement with satellite-based ag tools.