Optimizing nitrogen use in potato farming has long been a challenge. Nitrogen is one of the most essential nutrients for potato crops, directly affecting yield, tuber quality, and plant health. Yet, achieving the right balance of nitrogen application has always been a struggle. Too little nitrogen can stunt growth and reduce yields, while excessive application leads to unnecessary costs, environmental damage, and even lower marketable quality.
Swedish AgTech company Vultus, led by CEO Per Karlsson, is addressing this challenge with a satellite-driven nitrogen analysis and yield prediction service designed specifically for potato farmers.
Unlike traditional nitrogen monitoring methods, which require labor-intensive field sampling, Vultus leverages AI-powered remote sensing technology to provide real-time nitrogen estimates across entire fields, eliminating the guesswork associated with in-season fertilizer decisions.
Karlsson believes that while many research projects explore theoretical nitrogen optimization, farmers need practical, field-ready solutions. That’s precisely what Vultus delivers. With four years of development, field trials, and machine learning model refinement, the company has launched a fully operational nitrogen and yield prediction service, offering farmers a way to maximize nitrogen efficiency and predict yields as early as 60 days after planting.
The High-Stakes World of Nitrogen Management in Potato Farming
Nitrogen plays a pivotal role in crop growth and productivity, acting as the engine behind canopy development, tuber formation, and starch accumulation. It influences everything from photosynthesis efficiency to plant respiration rates, directly affecting yield potential and crop quality. Yet, nitrogen is also one of the most difficult inputs to manage efficiently, as its availability fluctuates with soil conditions, weather patterns, and plant uptake rates.
“Overapplication of nitrogen may seem like a safeguard against yield losses, but it often does more harm than good,” says Per Karlsson.
“Excess nitrogen promotes excessive foliage growth, delaying tuber maturation and negatively affecting tuber dry matter content and skin finish—a key concern for potato processors.
per.karlsson@vultus.se
“At the same time, surplus nitrogen is highly susceptible to leaching, contributing to environmental pollution and increasing compliance pressures on farmers facing stricter regulations on fertilizer runoff.”
On the other end of the spectrum, nitrogen deficiency can be equally damaging. Without sufficient nitrogen, plant growth slows, leaf area is reduced, and photosynthetic efficiency declines, resulting in smaller tubers, premature senescence, and ultimately lower yields.
“Even when farmers apply nitrogen at rates they believe to be sufficient, variability across fields due to soil type, drainage patterns, and microclimate conditions means some areas may still suffer from inadequate availability,” according to Karlsson.
“For decades, growers have relied on soil testing, petiole sap analysis, and handheld nitrogen sensors to guide their fertilizer applications. While these methods provide valuable insights, they only offer snapshots in time and require repeated, labor-intensive sampling to track nitrogen dynamics throughout the season.”
Some have turned to NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) imagery as a way to estimate crop health, but as Karlsson emphasizes, NDVI alone does not reliably correlate with nitrogen levels. It primarily reflects biomass, not actual nutrient content.
This is where Vultus’ remote-sensing technology changes the game. By offering full-field, real-time nitrogen analysis, the company enables farmers to make more precise fertilizer decisions, reduce unnecessary applications, and ensure optimal nitrogen availability throughout the season.
How the Vultus Satellite Model Works
The Vultus system combines high-resolution Sentinel-2 satellite imagery with AI-driven machine learning models to provide nitrogen estimates for potato fields without requiring any physical sampling. Sentinel-2’s multispectral capabilities allow Vultus to detect subtle differences in leaf chlorophyll levels, canopy structure, and water content, all of which are indicators of nitrogen status.
But raw satellite data alone isn’t enough. The key to Vultus’ success lies in its advanced machine-learning model, which has been trained on four years of field data from multiple trial locations in collaboration with Lyckeby AB, a leading Swedish starch potato processor.
This dataset includes petiole sap nitrogen measurements, yield data, and agronomic records, enabling the model to correlate spectral signatures with actual nitrogen levels with a high degree of accuracy.
Unlike traditional nitrogen monitoring methods, which only provide spot-check data, Vultus’ model generates continuous nitrogen estimates for every part of a field, allowing farmers to track nutrient status across different growth stages.
Karlsson explains that the technology is designed to be both accessible and actionable.
“Growers don’t need more reports that prove a theory—they need tools that help them right now. That’s why our nitrogen analysis is available as a fully functional service that farmers can use today.”
The system offers several key advantages, including real-time nitrogen estimates across entire fields, higher accuracy than NDVI-based nitrogen assessments, yield prediction as early as 60 days after planting, and water stress monitoring to help optimize irrigation alongside nitrogen management.
Beyond Nitrogen: Early Yield Prediction and Farm Profitability
While nitrogen management is a major concern for potato growers, the ability to predict yield accurately early in the season is equally transformative. Yield estimation is critical for contract negotiations with processors, logistical planning for storage and transportation, and determining input strategies for the remainder of the season.
Vultus’ system uses a simplified yet highly effective approach to yield prediction, based on net primary productivity modeling and temperature data. Unlike conventional crop growth models that require complex inputs such as soil characteristics, varietal parameters, and extensive agronomic data, Vultus’ approach focuses on actual plant productivity measured via remote sensing.
One of the most significant advantages of this system is that it requires no in-field measurements. Traditional yield models often depend on manual stand counts, tuber sizing assessments, or ground-based biomass measurements, all of which require labor and introduce potential errors. In contrast, Vultus’ yield prediction model relies solely on satellite-derived biomass accumulation data, which correlates directly with potato yield potential.
For farmers, this early insight into yield potential enables better decision-making throughout the growing season, helping them optimize fertilization strategies, negotiate contracts with processors, plan inventory and logistics, and improve financial planning and risk management.
The Road Ahead: Making Satellite Agronomy Accessible to Potato Farmers
Despite the proven benefits of satellite-based nitrogen analysis and yield prediction, Karlsson acknowledges that awareness and adoption remain major challenges. While many large-scale agribusinesses have begun integrating remote sensing technologies into their operations, many small and mid-sized potato farms still rely on conventional agronomic practices and manual assessments.
One of the key barriers to adoption is the perception that satellite-based agronomy is expensive or complex. Farmers often assume that such technology is only accessible to large corporate farms with dedicated data analysis teams.
However, Karlsson emphasizes that Vultus’ service is designed to be affordable, easy to use, and directly beneficial to farmers of all sizes.
To increase adoption, Vultus is focusing on seamless integration with existing farm management platforms, making its nitrogen analysis and yield prediction service available through API integration, direct access via a web and mobile platform, and partnerships with agronomy service providers.
The Global Shift Toward Precision Agriculture and Sustainable Farming
The adoption of remote sensing and AI-driven agronomy is part of a much larger global trend toward precision agriculture and sustainable farming practices. As fertilizer prices fluctuate and regulatory pressure increases on nitrogen runoff and greenhouse gas emissions, farmers are being encouraged to adopt smarter, data-driven solutions that optimize input use and minimize environmental impact.
At the same time, potato processors and buyers are demanding greater traceability and sustainability from their supply chains. Growers who can demonstrate efficient nitrogen management and data-backed yield optimization may gain a competitive advantage when securing contracts with major processing companies.
How to Access Vultus’ Potato Nitrogen and Yield Prediction Service
Farmers interested in integrating Vultus’ nitrogen and yield prediction service into their operations can find more information at www.vultus.se, request a demo, and also get in touch directly with Per Karlsson on per.karlsson@vultus.se – he will be happy to share more details and answer any questions you might have about the Vultus nitrogen and yield prediction service.
The future of precision potato farming is here – and Vultus is leading the way.
Source: Vultus / Per Karlsson
Author: Lukie Pieterse, Potato News Today
Cover image: Credit Teodor Buhl from Pixabay
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