Family-owned Bullseye Farms dates back to the 1900s. Committed stewards of soil health, the farm plants winter cover crops, sources green compost, and returns crop waste products back the orchard floor.
The slope and soil variability in Bullseye Farm's large almond orchards meant that orchard manager Nick Edsall often struggled to achieve uniform irrigation distribution. With the harvest fast approaching, the issue weighed on Nick: nuts that were too green or too dry meant lost profits and a higher risk of navel orange worm the following season.
Reviewing imagery with the Ceres Imaging customer support team helped Nick pinpoint areas to target and make corrective actions leading up to harvest—resulting in yield improvements worth more than $95,000.
“We could look at the imagery, and clearly see differing levels of stress within the orchard, and correlate that with the maturity at harvest," he says. "This allowed us to increase stress uniformity and also saved us a ton of time since we didn’t have to do as much surveying of individual fields in preparation for harvest time.”
The reduction in red and yellow areas in these water stress images taken a few months apart reveals where Bullseye Farm improved distribution uniformity in the orchard.
Have you had similar success using aerial imagery or another precision agriculture tool? We want to hear what's working for you. Drop us a line at social@ceresimaging.net.
Aerial imagery Pest and disease Precision agriculture Almonds Tree nuts Orchards