watchITgrow goes international

Monitoring potatoes’ growth and health through all-weather circumstances

One of the major challenges the sector faces today: producing more without enlarging the farming area. WatchITGrow allows better monitoring of potato production leading to increased yields. The tool helps farmers to optimize their available ground so that they can grow in a sustainable way. With the new Cropsar technology this monitoring can also be performed on cloudy days.

After the shadow map which was introduced earlier this year, watchITgrow now introduces a groundbreaking image processing technology called CropSar. This technology allows crop data to be collected even when clouds are present, so that the growth and health of the crop can be better monitored.

Cloud cover is one of the most well-known challenges when it comes to crop monitoring using satellite imagery. Thanks to a unique combination of radar and optical data from the Sentinel-1 and -2 satellites, VITO has successfully retrieved crop data during cloudy days. In this way, crop monitoring and forecasting of the harvest can be considerably improved. CropSar is a technology with a lot of potential in the agricultural sector.

In order to offer the most accurate measurement possible, VITO is now further perfecting this innovation, so that this innovative technology can be applied through the watchITgrow application by the growth season of 2019.

WATCHITGROW GOES INTERNATIONAL

This Belgian application will be presented internationally on 29 May, during the World Potato Congress that will take place in Cusco, Peru from the 27th to 31st May.

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WATCHITGROW

WatchITgrow is an online platform for the Belgian potato sector to monitor and increase potato yields in a sustainable way. watchITgrow allows potato growers, traders and processors to access data and information on the growth of their potato crops.