Virtual Orchards Make Better Harvests

Wavelengths beyond what a human eye can see provide valuable information about the crop — including tree vigor, plant stress, water use and fertilizer needs.

UC Cooperative Extension agricultural engineering advisor Ali Pourreza is peering into these previously invisible colorations to create a virtual orchard that will quickly, easily and inexpensively allow farmers and scientists to manage orchards for optimum production.

To develop his first virtual orchards, Pourreza launched a camera-equipped drone over an orchard at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier.

As the drone flies over the trees, it snaps thousands of photos and, using photogrammetry and software that stitches the images together, makes a three-dimensional point cloud model of the orchard. 

Ali Pourreza views the virtual orchard on his computer. 
Ali Pourreza courtesy of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources 

A computer program can make colors that are invisible to the human eye – such as near infrared, red edge and ultraviolet — into imagery that illuminates key crop health indicators.

Near infrared indicates the amount of healthy foliage, plant vigor and crop type. If the trees have low near infrared values, it means the plants are under stress. Red edge indicates plant stress and nitrogen content. High red edge values indicate nitrogen stress and low water content in plant tissues.

Source: Link TV

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