Sugarcane Solutions

Sugarcane Solutions is eLEAF's suite of satellite-based applications for sugarcane estates and mills (eLEAF has operated as part of Terramira since June 2026). eLEAF states that roughly 60% of production costs on sugarcane estates go into fertilisation and harvest logistics, and the suite targets those two costs.

Because most sugarcane grows in cloudy tropical regions, eLEAF adapted its algorithms to run on radar as well as optical imagery. Its PiMapping processing converts Sentinel-1 radar, Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 optical, and Sentinel-3, MODIS and VIIRS thermal data, combined with weather and agronomic models, into crop production figures in physical units such as kg/ha.

The suite has four applications:

• Cohort tracking isolates a single harvest cohort and compares field performance within it, filtered by ratoon, soil type or variety.
• Standing cane mapping quantifies standing cane in kg/ha each month over large dryland areas.
• Yield forecasting projects harvestable volumes for a future date, so mills can match harvesting to crushing capacity and shorten cut-to-crush time.
• Fertilisation advice estimates the nutrients removed at harvest and recommends nitrogen per part of each field, with fertiliser needs totalled at mill level.

Outputs are delivered in eLEAF's web-based FieldLook platform or in compatible sugarcane management systems such as CanePro. In the ESA-supported CostCutting4Sugarcane demonstration with AgroAP in Colombia, yield predictions became available 4–5 months into the growing season, and field managers cut urea use by 15–30% per hectare.