Upscaling crop performance monitoring by linking satellite and field biosignatures (UPSCALE)

The Nordic-Baltic region spans the most northern area in the world for field cultivation and is predicted to encounter larger changes than the global average in temperature and precipitation due to climate change.

Thus, there is an urgent need to design area-specific crop production systems with appropriate varieties adapted to future climates to safeguard continuous sustainable agricultural outputs.

One way to meet these challenges is by utilising image-based technologies from satellite, field and controlled conditions, and strengthen the information value of these crop phenotype data by linking biosignatures derived from the various spatial levels. The upscaling of phenotypic information beyond the single plant and local plot forms the core of UPSCALE.

There is a lack of latitudinal crop studies and focus on Arctic agriculture.

To this end, three sites spanning the Nordic-Baltic region with the northernmost site outside Tromsø will be utilised in UPSCALE.UPSCALE will collect different types of phenotypic data, including large-scale satellite data, and link these to proximal sensing, crop performance and functional phenomics down to the molecular level.

Molecular and spectral signatures will serve as the source of biosignatures that will be used in prediction models.

We will explore if crop monitoring via satellite can improve prediction models of yield performance and play a role in future crop growth models.