Golden fields of canola flourishing against a bright blue sky might just be the quintessential image of a Saskatchewan summer. With 12 million acres of canola grown across the province every year, the crop's delicate yellow flowers are a common and beautiful sight on any given Prairie highway.
USask graduate student Hansanee Fernando is using satellite imagery to help canola producers monitor their crops. (Photo: Submitted)
To get a bigger picture of canola's growth cycle, University of Saskatchewan (USask) graduate student Hansanee Fernando is turning her attention towards the sky, past the whips of cotton clouds, and into space, where she is harnessing satellite imagery to help canola producers monitor and grow healthy crops.
"My PhD work aims to support farmers by identifying key growth stages and estimating yields, or how much the crop will produce, early on," said Fernando. "I'm hoping to empower farmers to make informed decisions and optimize their management practices while potentially reducing costs, within the growing season."
To achieve this, Fernando is collecting images from open-source satellites and using these to map large scales sections of farmland across Western Canada. While optical satellite imaging is a commonly used technique that captures clear, crisp pictures of the Earth below like you'd see on an online map there are certain limitations that prevent researchers from collecting certain types of data using these satellites. Fernando, instead, is using radar images on top of optical images, a promising technique in agricultural mapping that can catch complementary details over large areas of land.
"Using radar for agriculture is relatively new and with it we can see the whole picture, not just the colour of crops, but also the structure of the crops grown," said Fernando. "Optical imaging doesn't work well in rain or cloud cover, while radar can penetrate through the clouds to give you the full picture. So, you could capture 10 out of 10 images with radar while with optical you may only get three out of 10 on a cloudy day."
According to Fernado, she is the first at USask using this kind of imaging for crop monitoring on a larger scale which allows her to gather insights for farmers like key growth stages of their canola crops, such as when a field is flowering, and even estimates on how much the crop could produce before the end of the growing season.
"Once I've collected all the data, I want to design an app that would allow farmers to zoom in onto their field and be able to identify the day their canola started flowering or see other information that's important for them," said Fernando.
Fernando said her research, and the app that she plans to develop from it, would benefit not only producers but municipalities and crop insurance companies, who would be able to use the same data to help process claims after damaging storms or droughts.
"The University of Saskatchewan's reputation as one of the top universities for agricultural research inspired me to apply for a master's program here and I was impressed at how advanced and well-resourced the Department of Plant Sciences was, it far exceeded my expectations."
Hansanee Fernando
Fernando's passion for agriculture first started at home in Sri Lanka, where she finished her undergraduate degree.
"The University of Saskatchewan's reputation as one of the top universities for agricultural research inspired me to apply for a master's program here and I was impressed at how advanced and well-resourced the Department of Plant Sciences was, it far exceeded my expectations," said Fernando.
Now, as a PhD candidate in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, Fernando is a part of USask's Agronomic Crop Imaging (ACI) team. ACI uses precision agriculture techniques like unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and machine learning to tackle complex agricultural challenges. The ACI lab is run by Fernando's supervisor, Dr. Steve Shirtliffe (PhD).
"Dr. Shirtliffe was one of the main reasons I chose to continue my PhD here," said Fernando. "His mentorship aligned perfectly with my goals and passion for remote sensing in agriculture and his guidance and expertise have been instrumental in shaping my researcher and career."
The future is bright for Fernando, who plans to continue exploring her interests and passion in learning and research after completing her PhD. Beyond her work in agriculture, Fernando has a passion for reading and dreams of writing a book one day, to share her experiences and knowledge and inspire others to pursue their passions.
"Whether in academia or industry, my ultimate goal is to work in a field where I can analyze images and data. As long as I can keep solving problems and uncovering insights, I feel fulfilled in my journey," said Fernando. "I want to keep doing work that can help farmers. I work closely with many producers, and they are so excited about the work I am doing and it makes me feel good knowing I am having an impact."
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