Crop Biomass

last updated: September 11, 2024

Crop Biomass in agricultural fields is highly dynamic, changing throughout the growing season as plants grow, encounter stressors, and approach harvest. The Planet's Crop Biomass provides a cloud-free estimation of the vegetation biomass at a 10-meter resolution on a daily basis.

This data is currently used to monitor +800k fields covering +10M hectares around the world. Daily monitoring enables farmers and agronomists to track and compare the status of their fields, and to detect earlier issues that can reduce yield such as pests, diseases, and water and nutrient deficiencies. In addition, the Crop Biomass data serves as the basis for variable-rate seeding, irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide prescriptions in different crops including maize, soybeans, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, and rice, among others.

Note

Check out the technical specification for more detailed information.

Figure 1: Crop Biomass data near Valle Hermoso, Mexico. The image above represents crop health in one agricultural field from July 1, 2021. Below, the average Crop Biomass reading from that field is plotted over four years, showing how each season’s crops performed throughout the growing season from emergence to harvest.

Use Cases

Agriculture

  • Monitor crop growth and development: You can track the growth and development of crops throughout the growing season, helping them to identify any issues early on and take appropriate action.
  • Detect and respond to stressors: Frequent updates on Crop Biomass data can help you detect stressors such as pests, diseases, or nutrient deficiencies. Timely access to this information allows you to respond more quickly and effectively, minimizing potential negative impacts on crop health and yield.
  • Optimize inputs and interventions: By tracking biomass dynamics, you can make better-informed decisions about the timing and application of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, as well as plan targeted interventions to address issues in specific areas of the field.
  • Improve harvest planning and efficiency: Access to up-to-date Crop Biomass data can help you plan harvests more effectively, by identifying areas of the field with higher biomass that may require adjusted harvest strategies or equipment settings.
  • Estimate crop yield: Peer-reviewed scientific article in Field Crops Research: Planet’s Biomass Proxy for monitoring aboveground agricultural biomass and estimating crop yield Guillevic et al., 2024

Basic Specifications

Version 4 released

The new version includes features that provide a better representation of the spatial distribution of the data. PlanetScope is now incorporated as a source of optical data, complementing the Sentinel-2 data feed. In addition, during periods of persistent cloud cover, the Crop Biomass is relying more heavily on the spatial data from Sentinel-1.

Source id BIOMASS-PROXY_V4.0_10
Pixel size 10 m
Temporal resolution 365 observations/year
Geographical coverage Global
Data availability 2019 to present

Data Access

Documentation and Training

Published Scientific Peer-Reviewed Articles:

  • The Biomass Proxy: Unlocking Global Agricultural Monitoring through Fusion of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Burger et al., 2024
  • Planet’s Biomass Proxy for monitoring aboveground agricultural biomass and estimating crop yield Guillevic et al., 2024

Blog Posts

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