Wheat Production Estimates Using Satellite Images¹

Abstract

Abstract Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) area and production statistics, as derived from satellite image analysis, are presented for a 10—county area in southwest Kansas. The object of the study was to determine whether production statistics could be accurately estimated using Earth Resource Technology Satellite (ERTS) imagery. The procedure involved locating, identifying, and measuring the area of wheat fields on images obtained at several times in the growing cycle and combining these data with the estimated yield obtained from a preexisting yield model. The results (representing the 1972–73 crop year) are compared for accuracy against both the SRS August estimate and its final (official) tabulation. The area estimates from imagery for both dryland and irrigated winter wheat were within 5% of the official figures for the same area, but predated them by almost 1 year. Yield on dryland wheat was estimated by the Thompson weather model to within 0.1% of the observed yield. A combined irrigated and dryland wheat production estimate for the 10—county area was completed in July 1973 and was within 1% of the production reported by SRS in February 1974.