Detecting Fall Armyworm Outbreaks with Satellites

Mar 26, 2026

By Somesh Utkar

Fall armyworm infestations do not move slowly. Once they take hold, these infestations spread across districts within weeks, cutting through staple crops that millions of families depend on.

The damage is rarely gradual. Fields that appeared healthy days earlier can show visible signs of stress before farmers understand the cause. By the time an infestation is confirmed, losses are already underway. For smallholder farmers facing these infestations, time is of the essence.

Most smallholder farms operate with narrow margins and have limited access to technical support. A delayed response to threats can mean higher input costs, reduced yields, and direct income loss. In regions where small-scale agriculture sustains both livelihoods and local food supplies, a localized fall armyworm outbreak can quickly become a broader risk to the community.

Traditional pest infestation monitoring depends largely on manual scouting, which often means delayed alerts. Outbreaks often expand faster than information about them can move. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture, combined with satellite data, offers an advantage to smallholder farmers.

By analyzing crop conditions across large areas, AI systems can detect early warning signals that are difficult to see from the ground. These are just some of the lessons gleaned from Omdena’s applied AI farming project, which involved satellite-based detection of fall armyworm across regions of Africa.

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Video: Dicamba Returns for Georgia Farmers: What the New EPA Ruling Means for Cotton Growers

After being unavailable in 2024 due to registration issues, dicamba products are returning for Georgia farmers this growing season — but under strict new conditions.

In this report from Tifton, Extension Weed Specialist Stanley Culpepper explains the updated EPA ruling, including new application limits, mandatory training requirements, and the need for a restricted use pesticide license. Among the key changes: a cap of two ½-pound applications per year and the required use of an approved volatility reduction agent with every application.

For Georgia cotton producers, the ruling is significant. According to Taylor Sills with the Georgia Cotton Commission, the vast majority of cotton planted in the state carries the dicamba-tolerant trait — meaning farmers had been paying for technology they couldn’t use.

While environmental groups have expressed concerns over spray drift, Georgia growers have reduced off-target pesticide movement by more than 91% over the past decade. Still, this two-year registration period will come with increased scrutiny, making stewardship and compliance more important than ever.