Crop Yield Simulation
The use of remotely sensed imagery to monitor crop growth and development has been demonstrated in many earlier studies. Methods for using this information in crop models to calibrate or modify simulations have been investigated at field scale studies by Moulin
et al., (1995). This research proceeds to the next step in developing and adapting these techniques of crop yield simulations to the regional level. The 1994 North Dakota State Statistical Reports published that planting dates for spring wheat began in mid April and continued through the first week of June, and crop maturity began in early July and continued through the end of August. For areas in the southern part of the state where the earliest sowing occurs, crops emerged by the first week in May. Flowering occurred by the second week of June and the crop reached maturity by the first week in July for the earliest planting dates. Simulation of crop growth using the earliest planting date and growing degree days of thirteen hundred from emergence to maturity agreed very well with the observed data provided by NASS reports.