Understanding NDVI: How Satellite Monitoring Helps Your Farm

FarmERP Team · February 20, 2026

Satellite monitoring has revolutionized precision agriculture. At the heart of this revolution is NDVI — the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index — a simple yet powerful indicator of plant health.

What is NDVI?

NDVI measures the difference between near-infrared light (which healthy vegetation strongly reflects) and red light (which vegetation absorbs). Values range from -1 to 1, where higher values indicate healthier, denser vegetation.

How FarmERP Uses NDVI

FarmERP integrates with both Copernicus Sentinel-2 (10m resolution, free) and AgroMonitoring to provide NDVI data for every field you register:

• Historical Trends: See how vegetation health changes over the growing season.
• Field Comparison: Compare NDVI across fields to identify underperforming areas.
• Anomaly Detection: Get alerts when NDVI drops unexpectedly, indicating stress.
• Multi-Index Support: Beyond NDVI, track EVI, moisture, and soil temperature.

Real-World Impact

Farmers using satellite monitoring typically detect crop issues 1-3 weeks before they become visible to the eye, allowing for earlier intervention and better outcomes.