Follow crop tour plots with the satellite

This year we are following all Gewastour plots with FieldScout from BioScope. Both biomass and nitrogen maps are made via satellite images. The satellite that makes these images comes over daily and if the weather is clear enough, there is a new map every day. On average there are about three new cards per week over an entire growing season. That's about fifty to sixty cards in total.

The biomass map below is from Ruud Steinbusch's Innovator plot in Voerendaal, Limburg. It is clearly visible that the left side has more biomass than the right side. The biomass is expressed in the so-called WDV Index (Weighted Difference Vegetation Index). In the legend (the narrow bar below the various maps) it can be seen that the biomass is now a maximum of 0,348. A full potato crop can reach approximately 0,7. According to Lotte, Ruud's daughter, the preconception is the cause of this difference. Field beans were grown on the left in 2022 and winter barley on the right.

With the other FieldScout maps, such as the re-growth map, it is possible to keep track of how much new foliage is growing, so that additional fertilization or disease control can be taken into account.

With these FieldScout tools, differences within a field become very clear. Differences between plots can be visualized with a benchmark tool. Attention will be paid to this next time.

Free elevation map of all plots in the Netherlands
FieldScout offers a height map for all plots in the Netherlands free of charge. Below you can see the height map of Ruud Steinbusch's plot. With this, lows or correct heads in an (unknown) plot can be quickly made visible and this can be taken into account during cultivation operations.

For more information about the elevation map or the biomass maps see www.FieldScout.nl