Space agency keeps watch on organic cotton
06/06/2023
A programme by German start-up Marple will be used to detect organic versus non-organic cotton fields, strengthening the integrity of organic cotton cultivation, according to GOTS.
The project, to be carried out under ESA’s Business Applications and Space Solutions programme, will train AI to use ESA satellite data to detect cotton fields across India and classify them according to their cultivation standard.
The approach will enable GOTS to generate estimates of organic cotton yields in specific areas.
GOTS said it could also help to pinpoint cotton fields that have not yet obtained organic certification but could be converted, thanks to their traditional farming practices.
The project is co-financed by GOTS and ESA in collaboration with Marple, which developed the CoCuRA (Cotton Cultivation Remote Assessment) and piloted it in a feasibility project in 2021 in Uzbekistan.
Claudia Kersten, managing director of GOTS, said: “It is very exciting to be a partner in this ESA Demonstration Project, and it is living up to our claim to be pioneers serving the sustainable textile sector to enable continuous improvement. Technologies like this will be a game changer regarding the integrity and promotion opportunities of organic cotton.”
Guillaume Prigent, business development officer at the European Space Agency, said: “This project highlights how space solutions can have a positive impact on the world and is the kind of innovation that ESA supports through its Business Applications and Space Solutions programme.”
The programme will run across the cotton growing regions in India, with first results expected by the end of this year.
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