Soil moisture update by VanderSat – Europe June 2021

Rest of Europe: the growing season starts very wet

The Eastern side of Europe, ranging from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania up to Bulgaria started in April 2021 with relatively dry conditions of the topsoil. Sowing of sunflowers, maize and potatoes was delayed. Rainfall events in mid April mitigated this situation to a large extent. So these soil moisture deficits had little or no negative impact on yield potential, as, in most regions, soil moisture levels remained at adequate levels (source).

Measured soil moisture excess/deficits animation

1 April – 31 May 2021

Soil moisture defined

How much water is in your soil? Soil moisture is a more direct measure of how much water is available for plants and therefore a critical predictor for yield. Rainfall only provides the input of water availability.  It does not account for evaporation, water runoff,  and the additional water stored in the ground.

VanderSat measures soil moisture levels at a unique high resolution of 100 meter by 100 meter globally. Farmers, cooperatives and agricultural firms are using our data on a daily basis to measure, manage and insure their crop growth in every stage of their development.