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GreenReport®’s journey from research to commercial impact
What began in the 1990s as a KU research initiative using satellite imagery to measure vegetation “greenness” has grown into the GreenReport — a trusted crop monitoring tool — and now into the next-gen Sentinel GreenReport Plus.
LAWRENCE, KS, July 8, 2025
By: Danya Turkmani – KU Discoveries Newsletter – Office of Research
(view original article here)
The Sentinel GreenReport Plus integrates Google Earth Engine with high-resolution imagery from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite mission, consisting of two identical satellites that share the same orbit. The Sentinel GreenReport Plus combines this satellite imagery with climate datasets from the PRISM group.
Roots in research
The idea took root when former KU geography professor Kevin Price saw untapped potential in satellite data to forecast crop yields. Around the same time, John Lomas was attending KU and looking to get involved in a project. With contributions from other staff and students and a commercialization partnership with KU startup company Terrametrics Agriculture Inc., the GreenReport was born. As the project evolved from raw images to a real-time forecasting tool, a USDA small business grant allowed Jude Kastens to get onboard, fresh off a master’s degree from KU mathematics.
Commercial launch
Despite early interest, the GreenReport struggled to gain market traction. “People would see the maps and get excited,” recalled Kastens, now an associate research professor at the Kansas Biological Survey. “But there wasn’t a clear path to commercialization. Companies struggled to understand how to extract value from the data.”
It wasn’t until the team made the GreenReport maps freely available online that awareness began to grow. The nationwide crop yield forecasting program was launched in 2002, and the first major customer was signed in 2009. The program has been commercially self-sufficient since then and is in its 24th year of real-time operation that bridges science, agriculture and business.
New developments
In May 2025, KU announced the release of the Sentinel GreenReport Plus, a modern update that integrates high-resolution Sentinel‑2 satellite imagery, PRISM climate data, and USDA Cropland Data Layers. The tool offers an interactive mapping interface to assess crop condition and progress over time. It builds on the legacy of the original GreenReport, harnessing decades of innovation in geospatial science and public data access.
Sustained innovation
From low-resolution imagery and homegrown research to national deployment and precise decision-support tools, the evolution of the GreenReport reflects the power of long-term vision, academic collaboration, and KU’s commitment to solving real-world problems.
Have an idea with commercial potential? Email the KU Center for Technology Commercialization to explore how your research can become the next success story. KU has the tools and support to help innovation grow.