Major changes are occurring in remote sensing technology that relates to advances in spatial, spectral and temporal resolution. For agricultural decision-makers, this means that remote sensing can provide 1) much greater detail of the land surface, 2) much more precisely defined colors or delineation of variations within the vegetation, residues or surface soils, and 3) repeat viewing of the same scene every 1-7 days. In effect, the manager can detect missing plants or stress damage, assess the causality of a stress by looking more closely at the spectral responses, and receive data/information in a timely fashion so that corrective action may be taken. Within the next 10 years there could be more than 40 new land viewing satellites. These developments will impact agriculture in several significant ways - more data available, a variety of types of data such as wavelength bands that are specific to stress conditions, more timely information and easier access to data because of reasonable consumer costs due to the competition.
Keywords: remote sensing, precision farming
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