"This was probably the best way to cover our acreage."
Terranova Ranch is a diversified farming operation on more than 6,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley. A regional leader in sustainability initiatives, the ranch includes dedicated wildlife habitat, more than ten acres of solar panels, and a pioneering aquifer recharge project.
Terranova Ranch is a large, sophisticated operation producing more than 25 different crops—from watermelon and wine grapes to in excess of 40,000 tons of tomatoes annually. Day-to-day management of the ranch is an increasingly complex undertaking: the team needed a tool that would streamline problem-solving and put their experts in the right place, at the right time to make critical corrections.
Working with Ceres Imaging, Terranova farm management used NDVI, thermal, and water stress imagery to get the high-level view of the ranch that they’d been missing. It became easier to identify variations in plant health and areas of over– and underwatering, and to assign action items for the irrigation team and other staff.
Improved efficiency helped Terranova Ranch increase yields by 25 tons per acre.
These flights can cover way more ground and provide more insight than a dozen soil moisture probes—and it's cheaper to implement.