How does YaraPlus Atfarm estimate biomass development?

YaraPlus Atfarm's biomass development estimation technology overcomes the challenge of limited recent satellite imagery due to prolonged cloud cover, which is crucial for analysing crop growth with biomass indices and generating variable-rate application maps.

How it works

The technology is based on Yara's irradiance and weather-based crop growth model, providing reliable extrapolations from the last cloud-free satellite image.

If the most recent cloud-free image is more than five days old, the model can calculate the N-uptake from an image taken up to 21 days in the past. This extrapolated image can then be used for application maps and for biomass comparisons.

The N-uptake is estimated using daily global irradiance, temperature and humidity data to calculate dry matter gain, assuming optimal nitrogen supply.

Supported crops

Biomass development estimation is currently available for:

• Barley
• Maize
• Oats
• Rye
• Triticale
• Wheat

We're actively testing the biomass development estimation model for additional crops.

Estimation accuracy

The model achieves high accuracy, with an error margin below 10 kg N/ha by estimating factors such as nutrient uptake from historical images based on the sunlight exposure of a given area.

However, certain stress conditions can affect accuracy, including:

• Drought or water stress
• Pest infestations
• Extreme weather events

While this technology provides reliable insights, it should be used as a decision-support tool, not as the sole basis for agronomic decisions. Please always validate data based on actual field conditions and external factors.