Agriculture has always promoted development and accelerated introduction of space imagery tools in the domain of the national economy and economy in general. The famous European Common Agricultural Program has been in place for over 45 years. Nowadays on the basis of satellite data in addition to solving general tasks this program allows assessment of crop capacity, and taking weighted solutions in determination of farmer subsidy volumes. In the recent years there has been possibility to carry out high frequency (once every several days) space imagery of ROI with spatial resolution up to 20 – 50 meters (ResourceSat-1/AWiFS, DMC2, Deimos, etc). This opens new prospects for introduction of modern techniques in the practices of individual farms promoting improved performance and environmental friendliness of production.
Vladimir Gershenzon,
Editor-in-Chief,
President and CEO of ScanEx RDC
Cover Story
Modern Agriculture in RussiaA. Danshin, M. Kazmin
Agricultural lands continue to deteriorate in most of the Russian constituents. Regular monitoring of their use and ecological condition is required, timely information is needed to detect and prevent negative processes, to develop a strategy of an efficient land use. For this reason single-purpose remote sensing satellites have to be designed with respective characteristics, in particular ensuring regular recurrent coverage with images of all lands subject to monitoring.
Earth Remote Sensing Data Application for Agricultural Solutions.S.Mikhailov
The current level of Earth remote sensing technology development provides efficient solution of a great number of tasks in the sphere of agri-industrial production and other sectors. It should be kept in mind that the application of remote sensing data is an essential, but no sufficient condition for quite a number of tasks.
Insurance of Weather Risks in Agriculture: Information Support Using “One-Stop Shop” Principle.А. Kleschenko, Yu. Shmelkin
What may improve the efficiency of agricultural industry? Introduction of novel web-technologies of centralized provision of meteodata to Russian agribusiness customers; creation of on-line access of users to agri-meteorological information; modernization of technology in support of comprehensive and timely meteodata provision to all civil society.
“VEGA” Satellite-Based Service.Е. Lupyan, I. Savin, V. Tolpin, I. Balashov
“VEGA” satellite-based service enabling to do real-time monitoring of both arable crops and other vegetation types, has been worked out at the Space Research Institute of RAS. Daily MODIS images and data, received from Landsat satellite, are used as the primary source of satellite information. The article described basic possibilities provided by the server to different groups of users.
Earth Remote Sensing Data Application in Agro-Insurance When Assessing Winter Crops Conditions.А. Savostin
Earth remote sensing data can be widely applied in argo-insurance for arable crops status analysis, including winter crops. The method, described in the article, allows estimating the winter crop condition prior to the snow cover in autumn and in spring time. The principal source of information about plants is the NDVI index, for which calculation multispectral data in red and near infra-red bands are used.
Space Technology for Agriculture and Agro-Insurance: Russian and international experience
International Forum “Innovations in Monitoring Hazardous Natural Processes and Risk Management in Russian Agribusiness” was held in April 2011 in Russia for the first time. Forum participants presented and discussed newest achievements in remote sensing technology and meteorological surveys in the interests of agriculture.
Space Imagery for Agricultural Solutions: Experience of Developed Countries
Agricultural industry achieved its highest level in developed countries of Europe and North America. Andrei Shumakov, representative of the American GeoEye company in Europe, tells about the agricultural policy pursued by different countries.
Space Monitoring of Agricultural Production in Kazakhstan.L. Spivak, N. Muratova
Main results of the application of agricultural production space monitoring GIS-technologies in Kazakhstan are illustrated, including remote control of terms and scales of sowing and harvesting campaigns; detection of spring crop areas; assessment of phytosanitary condition of grain crops and gross grain harvesting forecasts.
Thematic Tasks Classifier to Assess Natural Resources and Environment Based on Earth Remote Sensing Data
The latest (seventh) edition of the Thematic Tasks Classifier for natural resources and environment assessment based on Earth remote sensing data contains the section “K3. Agriculture”. This section is part of the field of tasks called “Anthropogenic Objects” and incorporates 18 tasks, combined by five topics: agricultural areas, agricultural area conditions, yield forecasts, agro-technical measures and agro-climatic conditions.
Trends
Handling Earth Remote Sensing Data at Urals Federal University: Expertise and New Possibilities.V.Kobernichenko
The Urals Federal University after the First Russian President Yeltsin accommodated the Space Monitoring Center based on the Institute of Radioelectronics and Information Technologies. Opening ceremony was held on March 15, 2011. The center is the scientific and educational subdivision of the university, capable of fulfilling a complete cycle of operations ranging from data reception from Earth-orbiting satellites to generation of special end products in form of thematic maps, GIS layers and analysis data of near real-time space monitoring.
- PermState University: Policy to Shape a Market of GIS-Technology and ERS Data
Perm State National Research University hosted the opening ceremony of the Space Monitoring Center of Perm Territory on February 14, 2011. S. Pyankov, Director of the Center of Geographical Information System and Technologies of Perm State University, Associate Professor of Higher Mathematics and Socio-Economic Geography Chair spoke about the problems and perspectives of modern space technology introduction into scientific, educational and economic processes.
Space: a Field of Action for Public-Private Partnership?M. Dorofeeva, N. Pupysheva
It’s hard to imagine life of people today without those possibilities that space technology opens before them – be it cellular communications and satellite television or high precision military intelligence tools. Therefore, expansion of public-private partnerships to promote space programs is of special interest for the society.
Disaster in Japan: Global After Effect of a Local Event.M. Dorofeeva, N. Pupysheva
A series of devastating earthquakes near Japan occurred on March 11, 2011 and triggered 10-odd meters high tsunami waves. Explosions in four of six power generation units of the “Fukushima-1” NPP were registered within a period of a few days starting March 12. To what extent Japan was ready to such an act of God and what are the consequences of this disastrous event? The experts share their views.
