Algorithm of allocation of agricultural land occupied by winter crops

Abstract

In Russia, many lands legally classified as agricultural land are abandoned. We propose an algorithm for the allocation of agricultural land with winter crops based on the dynamics of normalized relative vegetation index (NDVI) which were verified on the example of the Rostov region, a major producer of agricultural products in Russia. Cereals in Rostov region cover about 70% of the sown areas, most of them are winter wheat. A series of MODIS satellite data for the period March-August 2020 were used for calculations. Crop yields were taken from the Database of Rostov Region Municipalities. NDVI index for the territory of the Rostov region had lowest average value in March, maximum in May with a decrease by August. Pixels with high difference in NDVI values from March to August 2020, were considered agricultural fields. Pixels with NDVI index in range 0.2 - 0.5 in March and April were identified as winter cereal crops. A statistically significant linear relationship with a correlation coefficient of 0.57 between winter wheat yield values according to national statistical data for districts of Rostov region for 2020 and average NDVI values for districts for selected fields occupied by winter wheat in this period was obtained.