University of Tasmania
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Estimating pasture biomass with Planet Labs CubeSats

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conference contribution
posted on 2023-05-24, 18:17 authored by Asher, M, Peter RaedtsPeter Raedts, Matthew HarrisonMatthew Harrison, James HillsJames Hills, Richard RawnsleyRichard Rawnsley
Dairy farms require efficient monitoring of pasture biomass. However, physical proxy or destructive measurements are time-consuming, subject to sampling and collection error, and cannot characterise spatial biomass within entire paddocks. Until recently, spatial resolution and temporal frequency of satellite data have been insufficient to achieve effective management. We developed a model for biomass prediction based on data from new Planet Labs satellites to evaluate its utility in the context of commercial dairy farming. While the model had minimal residual error on the farm with the highest quality data (RMSE 260 kg/ha), validation of the model on new farms was poor. Accurately estimating biomass for the calibration farm is promising, but further work is necessary to develop a model which extrapolates robustly.

Funding

Grains Research & Development Corporation

History

Publication title

Proceedings of the 2018 Australasian Dairy Science Symposium

Pagination

196-198

Department/School

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)

Place of publication

Australia

Event title

Australasian Dairy Science Symposium

Event Venue

Palmerston North, New Zealand

Date of Event (Start Date)

2018-11-21

Date of Event (End Date)

2018-11-23

Rights statement

Copyright 2018 CSIRO Publishing

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Dairy cattle

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

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