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Abstract
The objective of this paper is to study, on a weekly basis, the explanatory power of one satellite‐based measurement, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), for wheat yield modelling in 40 census agricultural regions (CAR) in the Canadian Prairies during the whole growing season using 16 years of NOAA AVHRR satellite data (between 1987 and 2002). We also explore the relative value of NDVI compared with a land‐based measurement, the Cumulative Moisture Index (CMI). By developing a series of weekly wheat yield models over the course of the growing season, we are able to determine the accuracy of different models. Our findings indicate that NDVI possesses explanatory power 4 weeks earlier in the season than CMI.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Gordon Reichert, Chief of the Spatial Analysis and Geomatics Applications (Agriculture Division) at Statistics Canada, for his input and constant support during the whole project. The authors would also like to thank the Center for Research on E‐Finance for their financial support. Finally, we would like to thank three anonymous referees whose insightful comments greatly helped to prepare an improved and clearer version of this paper.