Satellite data and conservation spawn increased crop yields

SciDev.Net : Using remote sensing technologies, a group of researchers in India studied some 15 million hectares of underutilized agricultural land in South Asia in order to identify problem areas, such as land that is too wet or too dry for crops or land where natural resources have been depleted. By combining the data with resource-conserving technologies that include surface seeding and zero tillage—a method of growing crops without disturbing the soil—they found that crop yield could be significantly increased. Such studies will prove increasingly important as populations grow and less land and water are available for farming. The group’s results were recently published in Applied Geography.