genuinely asking because ive been doing NDVI passes for a client for two seasons now using a modded Phantom with a micasense sensor and every time i hand over the maps they nod and say great and then do basically whatever they were already going to do anyway. like the zones are clearly showing stress in the southwest corner of one particular field and they still apply the same rate across the whole thing.

is this just a adoption problem on the farm management side or am i producing data that isnt actually actionable in a practical sense for a mid-size operation without variable rate application equipment. curious if anyone has found a workflow that actually closes the loop between the map and a real decision.

yeah this is the gap nobody really talks about when they're selling precision ag. the data collection side is pretty mature at this point but variable rate application is still expensive to retrofit onto older equipment and a lot of mid-size operations just dont have the sprayers or planters that can take a prescription map and do anything with it. so you end up with beautiful NDVI imagery that basically becomes a $500 PDF.

the workflow that actually worked for me was getting agronomists involved before i even flew ? like they need to be part of defining what the data is supposed to answer. open ended 'here's your field health' maps go nowhere. 'here's exactly where your nitrogen is deficient and here's the prescription file for your john deere ops center' is a different conversation entirely. but that requires a lot more than just flying and processing.

honestly same experience here. i think part of it is farmers have been looking at their fields their whole lives and trust their eyes more than a false color map they dont fully understand. not a knock on them, the visualization stuff could be a lot better for non-technical users. ive started doing side by side RGB and NDVI overlays and spending more time just walking the problem areas with them after the flight ? that seems to land better than just emailing a report.