Precision agriculture: Making sense of remotely sensed imagery

October 26, 2026

As an MSU Extension field crops educator who also collaborates with the Basso Lab, Richard Price explores how remote sensing is helping farmers better understand crop performance and field variability through precision agriculture. In his Precision Agriculture article with MSU Extension, he explains how drones and satellites measure reflected light from plants to generate vegetation indices such as NDVI, which can reveal differences in crop health, vigor, and biomass across a field.

Price emphasizes that while remote sensing is highly effective at identifying where crops are thriving or experiencing stress, imagery alone cannot determine the underlying causes. Instead, the greatest value comes from combining remote sensing with soil data, historical yield maps, and other agronomic information to better understand field conditions and support management decisions. By integrating multiple datasets, farmers can gain deeper insights into productivity patterns and make more informed, data-driven decisions throughout the growing season.

Read the entire article at MSU Extension.