|
|
|
Peanut farmers to check crops online
9 Aug 2004
Peanut growers will soon be able to check crop progress and scan for disease via the Internet, as part of a trial using satellite technology to monitor peanut crops in south east Queensland. The next stage of the project will be to upload the information onto a farmers' web site.
Department of Primary Industries' agronomist Dr Graeme Wright said the technology has the potential to save the peanut industry millions of dollars and could also be adjusted to suit most Australian crops.
Infrared images from the system vary in colour depending on the maturity and health of the crop, allowing farmers to judge the best time for harvest and when to treat for disease. Currently, peanut growers rely on hands-on or sampling methods, but these are only reliable for the areas sampled as crops on different fields often mature at different rates. This means some crops are harvested too soon or too late, resulting in millions of dollars of wasted crops a year. Disease also often decimates crops, but satellite imagery will allow farmers to catch it early by providing images of exact locations to be checked out.
News.com.au, 9/8/04.
|
|
