Crop health metrics that matter to farmers

Crop health is of paramount importance to farmers. Thus, the careful and consistent monitoring of crop health is an absolute must. A recent study on coffee yield losses from 2013 to 2020 revealed that pests and diseases led to high primary (26%) and secondary (38%) yield losses in the researcher’s sampled area.

This highlights the significance of closely paying attention to such detrimental factors in your crop’s environment. Doing so will ensure maximum yield and profit for farmers, come harvest time. To look at crop health monitoring as governed by just one or two aspects, however, is a serious mistake. Rather, a holistic approach must be adopted. In other words, more factors need to be monitored than just pestilence and disease. Here are seven of the most important crop health metrics for farmers to monitor.

Crop appearance

Perhaps the most obvious indicator of crop health is their general appearance. While not an all-in-one foolproof method of gauging the current condition of a particular set of crops, a farmer possessing the right tools and knowledge can tell quite a lot from simply looking at the state of his or her plants.

Lightness or discoloration in foliage more often than not points to chlorosis, a state in which plants produce insufficient chlorophyll. Modern methods of crop health monitoring, including new technologies that utilise both near-infrared and visible light, allow farmers to actively and accurately monitor chlorophyll content.

Crop growth

Among the indicators of poor crop growth are short branches, sparse stands, and the rarity or absence of new shoots. This, of course, will inevitably affect your total yield in a negative way. Under ideal circumstances, there should be robust growth and a dense, uniform stand in your crops.

Tolerance or resistance to stress

Simply put, crop stress is a decrease in crop production brought about by external factors. An example would be exposure to excess light and high temperatures, which may disrupt photosynthesis (known as photoinhibition). As a result, crops will have insufficient energy to bear fruit or grow, and may even sustain lasting damage to their membranes, chloroplasts and cells. Healthy crops are stress-tolerant, and can easily bounce back after being exposed to stressors in their environment.

Occurrences of pests and/or diseases

An indicator that your crops are extremely susceptible to pests and diseases would be if over 50% of the crop population ends up getting damaged by said factors. Under the right circumstances, less than 20% of your crops would be negatively affected by any invasion of pests or spread of disease, allowing them to easily recuperate and increase in number once more.

Weed competition and pressure

Apart from insects and plant diseases, weeds can also spell doom for your crops, if left unchecked. In the event that your farm becomes overpopulated with weeds that will steal the nutrients from your crops, you will certainly notice that your crops are steadily dwindling. Healthy crops, on the other hand, would eventually overwhelm the weed population and reclaim dominance over your field.

Genetic diversity

To have only one dominant variety of crops on your farm is tantamount to putting your eggs in a single basket. For instance, you should consider the importance of having multiple diseaseresistant crop varieties on your farm. Don’t fall prey to the temptation of replacing them entirely with a single, higher-yielding type.