Agriculture

Seeing the whole field, in time

A large farm cannot be walked every week. Irrigation problems, pests and deficiencies are detected late, once they can be seen from the track. And administration, from the CAP declaration to SIGPAC area checks, requires accurate data for every parcel.

The drone covers the whole farm with a resolution that distinguishes every tree and every row. The area covered per day depends on the terrain, the sensor, the resolution required, the airspace and the planning; we set it in the flight plan for each project. The multispectral sensor sees what the eye cannot: the condition of the vegetation before the damage becomes visible.

What we capture on a farm

With the metric RGB camera we produce the farm orthophoto with a GSD of 2 to 5 cm/px (image resolution), georeferenced with GNSS RTK and ready to overlay on SIGPAC. With the multispectral camera we capture the red, red edge and near-infrared bands, from which vegetation indices such as NDVI are calculated.

The thermal camera provides canopy temperature, an indicator of water stress. With LiDAR or photogrammetry we produce the digital terrain model (DTM) of the farm for the design of irrigation, drainage and terraces.

What we deliver

The farm orthophoto for the CAP and SIGPAC, with the area of each parcel measured on it. Vegetation index maps (vigour, water stress, crop classification and biomass estimation) in GeoTIFF and as management zones in SHP. The tree count, with the position and canopy size of each tree. The DTM and contour lines of the plot.

Typical accuracy is 2 to 5 cm, expressed as root mean square error (RMSE) on open ground or well-defined surfaces, in the project reference system (ETRS89 / UTM, with orthometric heights unless another reference is requested). It is checked against independent checkpoints that are not used in the adjustment. It depends on the sensor, the GSD, the ground control and the vegetation. The accuracy for each project is agreed in the proposal and documented in the control report.

All viewable on our web GIS platform, by parcel and by date, to compare how the crop develops through the season.

How it is used on the farm

The farm agronomist uses vigour maps to direct irrigation, fertilisation and treatments to the zones that need them, instead of applying the same across the whole farm. The water stress map locates irrigation faults and sectors short of water. The tree count updates the plantation inventory and detects missing trees.

The orthophoto takes care of the administration: areas for the CAP declaration, SIGPAC parcel checks and documentation of plantations. The DTM is used to design gravity irrigation, terraces and farm drainage.

Where we work

We work on citrus, persimmon, fruit, vineyard, olive and vegetable farms in the Valencia region (Comunitat Valenciana): la Costera, la Ribera and la Safor in Valencia, the Vinalopó and the Vega Baja in Alicante and the Plana in Castellón. Also in the rest of Spain.