Texas A&M partners with private sector flyover team to develop new data on rice fields

NASA Harvest partner Texas A&M University has partnered with flyover company Air Data Solutions and data collection and processing company AgPixel to produce new field data for rice and corn in southern Texas. A first overflight with a manned aircraft occurred on April 11, covering approximately 300 acres of rice and 300 acres of corn. The first data products were released a few days later, and the team will work to identify sub-sets within these areas to continue coverage with high-resolution UAV imagery. Cold weather reduced rice growth at the time of the flyover.

Images produced through the venture include capture of NDVI and other traits in addition to raw images and 3D-capable perspectives of the fields. This detailed data can be cross referenced and compared to remote sensing data from satellites such as Landsat and Sentinel 1/2, providing more thorough data to researchers and to farmers in these areas regarding the status of their fields at a large scale.