Satellite tech: Operations booster for UK agribusinesses

United we stand, divided we fall. Perhaps, this saying describes the idea of agricultural cooperatives the best. Getting a helping hand when a problem arises motivates UK farmers to join agri co-ops.

Agri co-ops connect growers to distributors, support them in buying supplies without intermediaries, and advise how to get consultancy services.

Membership in agricultural cooperatives also allows farmers to enter larger markets and withstand the competition, improve products and services quality, get legal support, and benefit from transparent and democratic collaboration.

Unfortunately, some external factors impede farmers from keeping their crop yields at the desired level to remain competitive, and the support from a co-op can’t help dealing with them.

Environmental climate change affects crop growth, soil volume, and fertility. Hence farmers must allocate additional labour and financial resources for profitable crop cultivation.

Novel farm management approaches based on remote monitoring of fields by satellites, prompt reactions to spotted issues, and data-based decisions regarding input use and field operations can make a difference.

EOS Data Analytics, the provider of high-tech space-powered products for farmers, food producers, agri co-ops, and other related businesses, introduces such an approach and simplifies its adoption with EOSDA Crop Monitoring precision agriculture platform and agritech custom solutions.

“Recently, we hosted a webinar about custom agritech solutions to demonstrate practical applications of satellite monitoring and imagery analytics for the United Kingdom,” notes Brijesh Thoppil, strategic partnerships lead at EOS Data Analytics.

A free webinar about agritech solutions for UK agricultural businesses by EOS Data Analytics. Video: EOS Data Analytics

Satellite software benefits: features fitting agri co-ops the most

The EOSDA Crop Monitoring solution automates field data collection and closes the communication gap between cooperative members. The features below will come in handy for farming co-ops.

The Monitoring tab in EOSDA Crop Monitoring for tracking crop vegetation status © EOS Data Analytics

• Vegetation indices give an understanding of the vegetation state at different plant growth stages;
• 14-day weather forecast and historical data help farmers be prepared for unfavorable weather conditions and plan field activities accordingly;

The Weather tab shows extensive weather data for informed planning of field activities © EOS Data Analytics

• The zoning feature allows farmers to optimize seed planting and fertilizing by calculating the required amount of nutrients and number of seeds based on fields’ areas yielding ability and productivity;
• Scouting enables sending scouts to specific field areas and preparing reports indicating a crop name, changes in vegetation state, a sowing date, etc.
• Field leaderboard displays critical field characteristics on a dashboard, helping users to quickly check field size, vegetation index, crop type, and other parameters they find essential to have at hand;
• The team management feature eases information sharing between all co-op members and ensures seamless collaboration.

“Leveraging the platform’s rich functionality, agri co-op members can detect critical anomalies in plant development early on and take corrective actions.

“For example, EOSDA Crop Monitoring provides farmers with 360-degree analytics from fields to recognize weed spread, prevent pest attacks, and avoid over-irrigation or irrational fertilizing that may impede normal crop development.

“Also, the platform allows farmers to cut field trip costs by sending scouts to make on-site investigations and check problematic areas,” says Brijesh Thoppil.

Besides providing off-the-shelf solutions, the company carries out custom projects that usually include data collection or assistance to clients in this task and developing models for data analysis to answer customer questions.

How can agri co-ops integrate satellite imagery analytics into their daily work?

EOS Data Analytics Partner Program offers several partnership options for agri co-ops. They are:

• The out-of-the-box EOSDA crop monitoring solution and a dedicated account manager to address any issues for those clients who purchase 5,000+ ha subscriptions;
• Simple or advanced white label platform with different levels of customization, including corporate branding, tailored reporting, and a scouting mobile app.
• Custom projects like crop classification, yield prediction, field boundary detection, soil moisture analytics, and harvest monitoring, carried out by the company’s R&D department of 60 specialists and 25 PhD holders.

By using EOSDA Crop Monitoring, agricultural co-operatives will have an opportunity to strengthen their traditional farming practices with space-driven technologies.

“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we put our heart and expertise into creating EOSDA Crop Monitoring. And what is more important, we keep enhancing the product by gathering users’ feedback and expanding functionality to meet their needs better.

“We believe that vegetation indices, weather prediction and history, zoning, and other platform features will allow farmers to increase crop yields while staying profitable and sustainable,” adds the EOSDA specialist.

Committed to delivering high-quality products and services to customers, EOS Data Analytics will soon launch EOS SAT — the first agri-focused satellite constellation among companies utilizing remote sensing technologies.

By 2025, seven EOS SAT satellites will monitor up to 100% of countries with the largest areas of farmlands and forestlands, which amount to 98.5% of such lands worldwide.

The benefits of a fully operational constellation will include a unique set of 13 agro-related spectral bands, exclusive data ownership in a territory, better coverage for countries with small fields, and the opportunity to shorten revisit time on tasking.

The company is confident that providing satellite tech-based products and services, which enable data-driven decision-making, will boost UK agri co-ops and facilitate their transition to environmentally sustainable production.