We detect cover crop at scale in under an hour
As one of our sustainability services.
We support sustainable agriculture.
At PlanetWatchers, we have developed our sustainability services to help support the crop insurance and agriculture sectors shift to more sustainable practices and become more resilient to climate risks. The world population is increasing rapidly and the requirements on the agricultural food industry are dependable on the production of food and how we adapt to the ever growing population.
What is sustainable agriculture?
Sustainable agriculture is farming in a suitable way that meets the needs of society’s current food and textile needs without compromising the needs of future generations. It must nurture healthy ecosystems and support the sustainable management of land, water and natural resources, while ensuring world food security. If a farming practice maintains yields while increasing environmental goods and benefits then this can be said to be sustainable agriculture.
How do PlanetWatchers help?
PlanetWatchers offer services specifically targeted at monitoring farmer practices, such as cover crop detection and tillage, these are just a few of the ways that can help agriculture become more sustainable.
Using SAR (synthetic aperture radar) led analysis, we provide verification from county to field level within the hour. We provide accurate near real-time or historical data analysis, to support the crop insurance and agri-food industries address climate change.
Planting cover crops and reducing tillage are just a few ways that sustainability can be achieved within agriculture, to become more resilient to climate risks. By further expanding our sustainability services – we are able to support the Agri-food sector in monitoring these additional farming practices and move to a more sustainable world.
One of the most important sustainable agriculture management practices is the planting of cover crops to improve soil structure, reduce erosion and provide protection for the soil surface.
Cover crops slow the velocity of rainfall and form a canopy from wind. The vast network of roots from the cover crop help bind together the soil elements and absorb carbon. This process keeps the enrichment of the soil good for the next few years.
Historically, tillage (plowing) has been a means of managing this, however, this is proven to release CO2 into the environment, contributing to climate change effects.
Tillage, a popular process used in agriculture, is the preparation and turning of soil for planting and the cultivation of soil after planting.
Tillage can however increase surface nutrient runoff, soil erosion, effect drainage and release unwanted organic carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to the effect of climate change.
Using SAR led analysis we can provide verification from county to field level of tillage activities.
Reducing tillage and replacing with planting Cover Crop is a simple yet effective way to reduce CO2 emissions.