RapidEye Successfully Completes Imaging Of Canadian Growing Season in 2009

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Written by Administrator    Tuesday, 13 October 2009

Brandenburg / Havel, Germany, October 13, 2009 – RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that they have delivered 2009's Canadian growing season images of agricultural areas  to their customer GeoFarmSolutions Inc. in conjunction with the Agri-Trend Network.

In a collaborative effort, GeoFarm, Agri-Trend, and RapidEye began working together at the beginning of 2009 to offer enhanced satellite imagery solutions to Canadian clients by offering "near real-time" satellite imagery for agriculture use backed by superior agronomics. The RapidEye satellite system was designed to meet the needs of precision agriculture, as it is the only commercial satellite system that acquires data in the red-edge spectral band. This band  provides specific information about the chlorophyll content, and therefore nitrogen status of the crops.

“RapidEye provided high quality imagery products of different types on a 'field order by field order' basis to our Canadian customers over a wide range of crop types and conditions.  This led to a variety of precision agriculture decisions and applications. With Agri-Trend Agri-Coaches™ providing groundtruthing and agronomic insight, the value of these informative images was understood from a practical agronomy standpoint for the ultimate benefit of our growers,” says Warren Bills, President of GeoFarm Solutions Inc.

Customers benefited from multiple captures of 5 meter resolution, multi-spectral imagery (red, green, blue, near infrared and red edge) of their fields throughout this year's season. Products such as bare ground, chlorophyll and ground cover maps were delivered via the Internet to farmers, ag-retailers and agronomic consultants.

For more information about GeoFarm's services please refer to www.geofarm.com
For more information about Agri-Trend’s services please refer to www.agritrend.com

About GeoFarm and Agri-Trend
GeoFarm has the products, support, training, and expertise for managing fields at a site-specific level – the basis of precision farming. They provide the tools, training, and support to make precision farming easier, quicker, and affordable to their customers. GeoFarm strives to remove anxiety, reduce learning times, educate, and bring a level of excellence to their customers' businesses. Together with Agri-Trend Agri-Coaches™ they work with customers using the Precision Management Process™. This process is founded on the solid combination of agronomy and technology, and reaches sustainable and economic results for the benefit of both the grower and the environment. For more information please visit www.geofarm.com or www.agritrend.com .

About RapidEye AG
RapidEye is an ISO-certified geospatial information provider focused on integrating customized and industry specific solutions into the workflow of global customers in agriculture, forestry, energy, infrastructure, government, security and emergency. RapidEye experts and the satellite system – a constellation of five satellites capable of downloading over 4 million km² of high resolution, multi-spectral imagery per day, and a ground segment for processing and archiving data – allow for cost-effective customized services. The unique combination of large area coverage, high spatial resolution and the possibility of daily revisit to an area provide for superior management information solutions. Currently, more than 110 experts from more than 20 countries are employed by RapidEye, with plans to grow the team to 140 by late 2009.

RapidEye benefits from a public-private partnership with the Space Agency of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. RapidEye is also cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). For more information on ERDF please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

RapidEye is a “Selected Landmark in the Land of Ideas” and therefore part of  the event series “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”. This program is run by the initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas” and Deutsche Bank. Being a “Selected Landmark” RapidEye will stand for Germany being a “Land of ideas” in 2009 and will demonstrate Germany's spirit of innovation. The initiative is under the patronage of Germany's federal president Horst Köhler. www.land-of-ideas.org