TalkingFields customers can choose from a portfolio of services, such as estimating a crop’s yield some two to four weeks before harvest. Even before a farmer decides to use precision farming, he can obtain a detailed cost-benefit analysis for each field. Daily information on biomass and density will help to protect crops by revealing the onset of plant disease.
Following a feasibility study and a joint workshop in Munich involving the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology (StMWIVT), the German Space Agency (DLR), ESA and the industrial consortium , TalkingFields is now being demonstrated in real fields. The demonstration project is led for ESA by the German Earth observation company VISTA with partners PC-Agrar, a German company specialising in providing farm management information software, and the University of Munich, who developed the hydrological and agricultural production model.
TalkingFields is being supported through the Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme of ESA’s Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Directorate. IAP builds services for new users by combining different space and terrestial systems in new ways.