When most people think about cotton fields, they probably don’t picture satellites and artificial intelligence. But a project co-financed by Global Standard and the European Space Agency’s Business Applications and Space Solutions programme is exploring how satellite imagery and AI can provide information about cotton cultivation.
Working with AI company Marple, the Satellite Cotton Monitoring Project has used satellite imagery and AI technology to distinguish cotton fields from other agricultural fields and to assess characteristics associated with different cotton cultivation methods.
Monitoring fields in India, the project reported a 97% accuracy rate in identifying cotton fields and an accuracy rate of over 80% in its assessment of organic cultivation status. These figures relate to the project’s classification methodology and do not themselves constitute organic certification of the cotton.
The project uses Marple’s Cotton Cultivation Remote Assessment (CoCuRA) software to analyse satellite data and identify relevant cultivation patterns.
The technology could help identify cotton-growing areas for further assessment and provide additional information about raw-material production. Where applicable, this information may also help identify producers who could pursue organic certification through the relevant certification processes.
The data generated by the project also contributes to Global Standard’s Global Fibre Registry, which brings together information about raw-material production before materials enter the GOTS textile-processing value chain. This data can support checks and help identify potential discrepancies or fraud risks.
Watch Claudia Kersten and Jeffrey Thimm from Global Standard and Daniel Lanz from Marple explain more about the project and its impact:
Read more here and listen to a podcast between Claudia and Ecotextile News here.
