2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Precision agriculture using ‘remote sensing’ is being successfully used in conventional agriculture by US farmers. In spite of its potential use in controlled environment agriculture, the application of remote sensing is currently limited to research activities at academic institutions. Cost of inputs for production including energy for supplemental lighting/cooling, fuel for heating, fertilizers and water can be quite high in controlled environment agriculture due to intense nature of cultivation. Monitoring input use and adjusting them based on plant need is crucial to improve production efficiency. I will describe affordable and reliable remote sensing technologies to monitor crop input use. Specifically, techniques to monitor crop growth rate, supplemental light use, crop nitrogen status, crop temperature and crop water status in controlled environment agriculture will be discussed.