Normalized difference vegetation index

Yes.

They are flying drones equipped with multispectral cameras using NDVI technology to scan the course.

NDVI is one of the most powerful tools in modern agriculture.

Right, because it lets you see the invisible.

NDVI essentially measures the near-infrared light bouncing off the grass.

Wait, infrared light?

Yeah.

We have so many moisture probe companies in South Africa.

Together with drone technology and satellite imagery, one can identify early stress indicators in the plants with NDVI visualization and other tools.

There is probes that you can measure not just soil water capacity at different depths, but also the growth response of the plant.

For instance, the dendrometer technology that comes from Israel.

So every plant counts, every crop counts.

How can precision measurements help farmers identify whether they are over-applying water or fertilizer, rather than simply applying the same rate across the entire field?

Precision technology, easiest is probably looking at drone and NDVI satellite imaging.

And the difference in color will already spot a stress level, which is usually because of lack of water, high ECs or salts.

According to the commodity brief, real-time satellite data is rapidly transforming from a high-tech novelty into an absolutely essential foundational input for institutional risk models.

The brief specifically mentions inputs like NDVI, moisture stress indicators, and forecast adjusted yields.

The integration of NDVI into trading algorithms is nothing short of revolutionary.

NDVI stands for Normalized Difference Vegetation Index.

Let's pop the hood on that.

How exactly does a satellite floating in low Earth orbit tell a hedge fund in Manhattan how much corn is growing in Iowa? What is the actual mechanism?

Photosynthesis slows down so it stops absorbing as much red light.

The cellular structure breaks down so it reflects less near infrared light.

Um, so we had, um, their agronomist, which did an awesome job as well, and Todd, I think you were most jacked about all the AI and drone and other stuff he was working on that he kind of talked to us about.

So that was kind of neat to get some other aspects of what goes into picking hybrids, 'cause he's picking them, and he's using NDVI and other things to actually pick their, their varieties.

But, um, if you remember, Renk really never had a lot of Corteva genetics in their lineup, and now this year some licensing agreements expired so that they're able to have some PC hybrids.

So you're gonna see some of that in their lineup, which I think is gonna help them get to some, some clients.

We're going to have to give them the things that they need to see with our eyes.

to incorporate in these things? Because I've seen some early, you know, the NDVI's and all the different metrics that you can look at things.

And if you look at those and you look at your greens, you're like, oh my gosh, I got to get out there.

They're dying.

Then another way is like a data driven approach.

And so you could run NDVI satellites over a crop get heaps of data, precise soil measurements, all of that.

And that will give you a much better, a different picture from what your eyes can tell you about a crop, but it's still more or less your intuition and your experience that says this is where it should be.

And I guess we're trying to bring a theory driven approach, which was why should it be here and here? Not too little, not too much.

So you're spoiled for choice in terms of product selection, but is it working in the area, in the soil type, in the microclimate? And that information we have to get from the older generation, and then mix that and merge that into the new technology that's available for us.

We don't have to go out to a land of maize and see, "Oh, the leaves are scorched." We can actually see it by satellite, just looking at NDVI imaging.

There's tools that can tell you the heat or the heat stress is on the way.

We've got excellent weather stations and software programs scattered across South Africa that can give you early warning signs on diseases.