Looking into the future

Imagery has been used in agriculture for longer than you might expect. In 1933, British botanist Frederick Bawden used aerial photography to detect viral disease in potatoes. In 1972, imagery became more available when Landsat satellites began being used in agriculture. Yet, most growers will tell you it’s only been in the past few years that imagery has become heavily relied on as a widely used tool. For example, the acceleration of imagery for irrigation management among growers has been particularly swift, going from very little ongoing use a couple of years ago to as much as an estimated 30% of growers in California currently.

So, why has there been a recent rapid increase of imagery use in irrigation management, and what does the future hold? It all starts with thermal.

One of the biggest reasons to explain the rise in the use of imagery in irrigation management is the improvements in thermal image capture. Thermal image capture is used to measure crop temperature, which is critical in understanding crop water stress. Thermal imagery captured from the air makes the heat emitted from objects on the ground visible, revealing temperature differences that correspond to crop stress. Because water cools vegetation, thermal imagery is useful for detecting leaks, clogs and even some other irrigation issues.

One of the biggest reasons to explain the rise in the use of imagery in irrigation management is the improvements in thermal image capture.

Satellite-based imagery does not provide the most accurate measurements of thermal radiation reflecting off plants. Thermal imagery from satellites has 50- to 100-meter thermal pixels, which are not very helpful for farmers. Also, the water vapor and other atmospheric interference means that satellites have low thermal accuracy and are error prone. As a result, this is not seen as the best solution for thermal imagery capture by many experts. With the advent of plane- and drone-based image capture, some imagery companies have been able to generate highly accurate models of crop water stress showing relative temperature differences of 0.1 degree Celsius between plants.

Using imagery in irrigation

With the improvements in thermal image capture, as well as advances in artificial intelligence, growers have begun using imagery in a variety of ways. Typically, growers who haven’t relied on imagery in the past use it to identify irrigation leaks, clogged emitters and pressure issues before they impact their crop yield. In fact, it’s typical to find one 5- to 10-acre irrigation issue for every 150 acres analyzed. Some companies that also specialize in solving these types of irrigation issues will offer money-back guarantees to customers for whom they do not identify issues over the course of a season.

Farmers are now using imagery to automatically create zones for variable rate irrigation as well. They also use analytics products derived from thermal-based imagery to measure the distribution uniformity of their irrigation set, saving significant time and making it easy to prioritize blocks or sections of the field. Farmers are not alone in using imagery for irrigation management. Irrigation dealers increasingly use thermal-based aerial imagery to design irrigation systems and check on warranty claims for equipment malfunctions. Even governments and policymakers are coming around on imagery use for irrigation and efficiency. For example, Resource Conservation Districts in California are subsidizing certain imagery providers due to the increased water efficiency benefits.

What does the future hold?

Growers are now looking to go beyond just reading images, wanting the results to produce real-time actions. Historically, one of the challenges with imagery is data overload. Artificial intelligence is helping solve these problems, as algorithms are learning to identify patterns in imagery and assess the scope and cause of the pattern, alerting growers to issues in real time via email or text. There are now imagery companies offering tools that automatically detect and quantify irrigation issues in the field for center pivot and drip irrigation customers. Advances in AI will continue to make imagery for irrigation management more actionable into the future.

Growers are now looking to go beyond just reading images, wanting the results to produce real-time actions.

Integrations are another frontier for irrigation management. Imagery companies, like other digital agriculture software companies, are responding to a common complaint from farmers that all of their data is siloed. Imagery companies are beginning to integrate with the major digital ag platforms. They are also integrating with irrigation equipment platforms. Likewise, imagery is integrating with other remote sensing technologies like soil moisture probes. We’re already seeing imagery being used to extrapolate the data from one single probe across an entire block or pivot.

Finally, as AI improves and integrations accelerate, so too will the type of analytics products that can be built using imagery. We are already seeing this play out with imagery-based irrigation strategy tools that solve bigger problems like irrigation scheduling. For example, while a soil moisture sensor can be very helpful in thinking through irrigation scheduling, the downside of this approach, of course, is that it is only representative of one part of a field. A number of companies are beginning to integrate their high-resolution imagery with soil moisture data and local weather data to bring an added layer of precision to irrigation scheduling. Likewise, there are also uses of imagery to manage effective deficit irrigation as well. 

While there is a lot of space for more exciting technological innovation, there have been many exciting developments over the last couple years that growers, retailers and policymakers are all starting to test and adopt. And, clearly, imagery will play a vital role in the future of irrigation management. 

Ashwin Madgavkar is the CEO of Ceres Imaging, a company providing imagery for irrigation management across the United States and Australia.