SatYield Joins Feedstuffs in Focus to Discuss the Future of Satellite Crop Intelligence

How satellite-based crop forecasting, digital twins and timely supply intelligence are changing agricultural decision-making.

We recently had the pleasure of joining Sarah Muirhead on the Feedstuffs in Focus podcast to discuss how satellite technology is transforming the way agricultural businesses understand crop production and physical supply risk.

A special thank you to Sarah and the entire Feedstuffs team for hosting us and for the opportunity to share our perspective on the future of agricultural intelligence.

In this 16-minute conversation, SatYield's Co-Founder and CEO, Gabby Nizri, and Strategic Sales Consultant, David Shoaf, explore how satellite observations, advanced crop models and environmental data can provide independent, timely insights into crop development and expected production.

How does satellite crop intelligence complement traditional crop reporting?

Agricultural markets rely heavily on government reports, historical production trends and periodic crop assessments.

These remain essential benchmarks. But conditions in the field change continuously, often faster than traditional reporting cycles can capture. We have written about this gap in more detail in From Surveys to Continuous Observation.

At SatYield, we are working to close that gap.

By combining satellite imagery, weather and soil data, and biophysical crop models, SatYield creates a crop digital twin, a dynamic representation of crop development that evolves throughout the growing season.

This approach enables independent estimates of planted area, yield and production, with frequent updates as new observations become available.

Why does timing matter as much as accuracy?

One of the central themes of our conversation was that the value of agricultural intelligence depends not only on forecast accuracy, but also on when that information becomes available. As we have put it before, in agriculture, alpha is not information, it is time.

For grain traders, merchandisers, ethanol producers, feed buyers and agricultural risk managers, identifying regional production changes earlier can influence critical business decisions.

These include procurement strategy, sourcing radius, transportation planning, local basis exposure and supply risk management.

Having a clearer picture of developing crop conditions can help businesses prepare for potential disruptions rather than react after they become widely known.

How do satellite observations become actionable intelligence?

Satellite data alone does not provide the answers agricultural businesses need.

The real challenge is transforming complex observations into reliable, actionable estimates of physical agricultural supply.

During the episode, we discussed how SatYield integrates satellite and environmental information with advanced crop modeling to generate independent intelligence across major agricultural regions in North and South America.

We also explored how that intelligence can fit into existing workflows through APIs, datasets, dashboards and other analytical tools.

Our goal is simple: make independent physical agricultural supply intelligence more accessible, timely and useful for better decision-making.

Where can you listen to the conversation?

We enjoyed the discussion and appreciate Sarah Muirhead and Feedstuffs in Focus for giving us the opportunity to share our work and vision.

Whether you are involved in agricultural commodity trading, grain merchandising, food and feed procurement or supply chain risk management, we invite you to listen.

Podcast: Satellite crop intelligence

Host: Sarah Muirhead, Feedstuffs in Focus

Guests: Gabby Nizri and David Shoaf, SatYield

Published: October 2026

Duration: Approximately 16 minutes

Listen to the full episode on Feedstuffs

See how SatYield tracks crop production week by week. Explore the SatYield AI Agent.

Episode credit: Satellite crop intelligence, Feedstuffs in Focus, published by Feedstuffs / Farm Progress. Our thanks to Sarah Muirhead and the Feedstuffs team for hosting the discussion.