Abstract
Remote sensing in agriculture has three applica-tion. One is the qualitative and quantitative analysis of lands features using the visible spectral and near infrared bands of Landsat MSS and TM data. This application includes harvest forecasting, disease information, and land cover classification. The second application is the gathering of information on soil water requirements by thermal infrared bands. The third application is assessment of the environment for the agriculture, e.g. estimation of evapotranspiration, surface temperature, and surface reflectivity.
In Japan, it is very difficult to make distinctions in land cover using satellite data because crop patterns are complex and the size of field is very small. Also the measurement of variable features in agriculture, e.g. harvest forecasting, is difficult because cloud cover renders satellite data useless. The stable features of land cover in agriculture, e.g. soil classification, were studied using satellite data. Recently, some environmental studies have been performed using satellite data, which is essential for the measurement of the environment over large areas.
