Proponents of organic agriculture say following organic principles provides healthy food and protects the environment by avoiding widespread dissemination of chemicals and taking better care of the environment. The organic lobby is gaining increasing influence in Europe; Eurostat figures from the past decade show a steady increase in the amount of organic land and range of produce accross the continent.

Ecocert, a French company which deals with sustainable agricultural development and the certification of organic produce, has worked with the University of Liège, Belgium and the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop the use of satellite images for certifying crops as organic.

The groups found that, due to different characteristics resulting from the different treatments of crops under organic and conventional management, the crops can be identified from outer space. They said this has wide-ranging implications for gaining information and further development.

ESA and Ecocert used satellite images to spot these differences and will now implement them in supporting the organic certification process, after a successful test was conducted on winter wheat and corn grown in relatively large fields.

The trials used five different satellites to develop the new approach, using various types of satellite imagery to differentiate between conventional and organic methods. They also investigated crop spectral reflectance, yield forecasts and studied the concentrations of different species of plants or animals within a field (referred to as Spatial heterogeneity) to identify organic crops.

Dr Pierre Ott, a spokesperson for Ecocert, said trial results were “over and beyond what could have been envisioned initially.” He continued, “Accuracy rates of 80% to 100% in discriminating organic from conventional fields are a performance in itself. It seems very promising as far as the potential of future developments is concerned.”

Further tests are currently underway to turn the new concept into an operational service which could be reliable and affordable for users. image expired