A recent report prepared by London Economics and Caribou Space, for the UK Space Agency (UKSA), has found that space-based satellite Earth observation solutions for agriculture can be six times more cost-effective than non-space alternatives such as drones, field patrols, and extension workers tasked with providing farmers with training and support.
The UKSA’s International Partnership Programme (IPP) is a 5 year, £30m per year programme, focusing on using the UK space sector’s research and innovation strengths to deliver sustainable economic and societal benefits, to emerging and developing economies around the world. The programme includes a number of projects focused on agriculture. Space- based solutions are particularly suited to addressing some modern challenges such as increased population, climate change, and poor yields in staple crops such as wheat and rice. Space-based solutions cover three specific areas:
- Decision support tools
- Early warning systems-early detection and mitigation of events such as drought
- Farming credits, based on data collected for farmers in the developing world
The cost-effectiveness in the report is measured in terms of the absolute value of the change in crop yield (£), and is dependent on the relative costs of data collection. The forward-looking analysis shows that agri-businesses can act on the intelligence derived from satellite data on yield or risk, whereas non-space solutions rely on farmers responding to guidance.
Environment Systems is proud to have been leading EO4cultivar, one of the 33 projects run in 44 countries since the IPP’s inception in 2016. The project has recently been expanded, see ‘EO4cultivar Expansion’ below. The delivery of satellite-derived agricultural data to agri-businesses, supply chain organisations, and smallholders is addressing risk management, supply chain visibility, crop yields, crop input management and showing great promis