In 2005/2006 local growers in the Ord River Irrigation Area ORIA) initiated a remote sensing satellite imagery trial.The images provided more detailed information about a crop at a specific point in time and identified significant variation in crops which could not be seen during visual observation. This involved purchasing regular satellite images of the ORIA to assist with farm/crop management.

The potential of the images as a management tool has been recognized, but there are many critical knowledge gaps in image interpretation. In 2007, an application to the National Landcare Programme (NLP) was submitted to fund a full time extension officer to interpret the images and provide support to the growers.

NLP approved this application and 10 satellite images will be purchased over the 2008 growing season (May 08 – November 08).

The main objective of this project is assess how useful satellite images are to farmers as a farm management tool in monitoring and improving crop health and yields. This will be done by ground truthing (interpreting) the images to understand the relationship between what is seen in the image to what is happening in the crops.

The project will work with sandalwood plantations, horticulture, legumes and hybrid seed production. Support will also be given to the growers in using GIS software to view the images and to map relationships found with electromagnetic maps and yield maps.

To guide the direction and planning of the project and to make sure the project objectives are being achieved successfully a steering committee has been established. It consists of representatives from the horticulture, trees, grain, and environment industries and will meet every 6-8wks.

The SPOT 5 Satellite

The images are taken at a 10m resolution by the SPOT 5 satellite, operated by a French company.

Instruments/sensors are mounted on the satellite that allows it to take pictures of earth.

The SPOT 5 satellite has a pointing capability that enables it to collect an image over a designated part of the earth one day in every three.

It only takes approximately 48hours from when the satellite takes the picture to when the farmers are viewing the images.