Belgium: Satellite images as an aid to flax cultivation

Posted: 21/04/2022 Save as favorite From this growing season, the Flemish institutes Inagro, ILVO and VITO will work together with the flax sector on a monitoring tool for growers. This tool will provide them with information from a distance about the crop status of the flax and advise on the optimal sowing time, possible re-seeding and the use of growth inhibitors for homogeneous crop growth. This is done at the request of the sector. Flax thrives best in fertile soils and can only be grown on the same plot every 6 to 8 years. As a result, growers have been forced to spread their plots over a large area, from northern France over Belgium to the Netherlands. To monitor their crops, a lot of time is spent on travel time. Good monitoring is important, however, because flax is a crop with a short growing season that reacts quickly to, for example, disturbances in the soil. Flax growers need a system that enables remote crop monitoring, with a good warning system that facilitates ...