Monitoring the earth ' s resources from space - Can you really identify crops by satellite ?

Of the most important questions facing society today, those near the top of the list include the status and future of the world's food supply, its environmental quality and its sources of energy. These questions have increasingly been before the general public in recent years and have for an even longer period of time, been of concern to the world's thinkers, planners and policy makers . It had long been recognized that after all, our earth and its resources are finite and that as society continues to grow we must find better ways to manage these finite resources. A primary need for good management is up-to-date and accurate information on the status of the resources to be managed. Thus it was that early in the last decade the possibility of using aerospace technology for accumulating better information about the current conditions of agriculture, the earth's resources and man's environment began to be examined. It seemed clear that to monitor resources directly associated with the land, the best vantage point would be above the land looking down upon it. The need to be higher simply resulted from the need to see more. In practical terms this immediately implies the gathering of larger and larger quantities of data, and the computer was immediately suggested therefore, as somehow an important tool. But how? There now exists a first generation answer to this question. The program of systematic and step-by-step research which led to it, will first be briefly outlined. After description of some typical examples of its use, we will examine the directions being taken to devise an even more effective second generation solution.