Agroproductive Data Information by Remote Sensing: Applied to the Bahía Blanca Cereal and Products Exchange Region

The Argentine agricultural sector is a relevant worldwide commodity producer, being the main exporter in the country. Conventional crop management systems lead to inefficient time and costs. In Argentina, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries is the main entity that collects and reports productive data, a laborious task with high costs, slow and error-prone. Technological improvement and competitiveness of the sector require a new perspective in the current data management, towards digital transformation, achieving more efficiently the capabilities of the agricultural sector. The aim of this article is to introduce an agricultural data management platform, which includes several information-based technologies for enhancing the management of agro-productive establishments data. This system has great potential in data collecting, integration and analytics from diverse sources, with the goal of providing users with consistent and precise access and delivery of relevant data in support of decision making, and to meet the information requirements of all processes. The system is currently in use in an extensive region of the Southwest of the Buenos Aires Province and East of the La Pampa Province, which are under the logistic influence of the Bahía Blanca Port. The platform offers unified access to datasets and satellite imagery, automates the most relevant users processes such as field information upload (i.e., during sowing and harvesting seasons), processing and image visualization. Furthermore, the system includes functionalities such as remote monitoring, tools for crop estimation, and direct access to weather records and forecasts from the National Weather Service (SMN). This development represents a strategic development which goes beyond the purely technological aspects. It is an open innovation tool, promoting the creation of value, aiming at the digital transformation of the agricultural productive system.