ZARC (Agricultural Zoning of Climate Risk)¶
📖 Overview¶
The Agricultural Zoning of Climate Risk (ZARC) is a policy tool that guides crop planting based on analyses of climate, soil, and crop cycles. Its goal is to reduce climate-related risks by identifying the best planting windows for each municipality. Easy to apply, it is widely used by farmers, financial agents, and policymakers.
EarthDailyAgro’s ZARC analytic evaluates whether crop planting occurred within the climate risk windows defined by Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture. Leveraging satellite-based time series data, the analytic detects the crop’s emergence date in the field and compares it against the official risk zones established for the crop, location, and planting period.
🗂️ Baseline Data¶
- NDVI LR Time Series
⚙️ API Access¶
⚙️ Parameters & Variables¶
General Parameters¶
| Parameter | Variable Name | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| ID | id |
EarthDaily Agro internal ID | string |
| Geometry | geometry |
Geometry of the Area of Interest (WKT format) | string |
| Crop | crop |
Crop Code of the field used for the ZARC period computation | string |
Input Variables¶
| Parameter | Variable Name | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting date | date_emergence |
Starting date for emergence detection | string |
| Season Start Day | nb_days_sowing_emergence |
Number of days to consider to compute the sowing date based on the detected emergence | int |
| Soils Type | soil_type |
Soil type of the field, used for zarc period computation | string |
| Cycle | cycle |
Variety type of the field, used for zarc period computation | string |
Output Variables¶
| Output | Variable Name | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emergence date | emergence_date |
Emergence date detected | datetime |
| Id | id |
EarthDaily Agro internal id | string |
| Sowing Date | sowing_date |
Sowing date detected | datetime |
| ZARC Start Date | zarc_start_date |
ZARC start period | datetime |
| ZARC End Date | zarc_end_date |
ZARC end period | datetime |
| ZARC Risk Level | zarc_risk_level |
ZARC period risk level | double |
| Status | status |
Indicates if the detected sowing date is inside or outside the legal period | boolean |
📊 Performance and Accuracy¶
-
Tested Crops:
- Corn
- 2nd Corn
- Soybeans
- Cotton
- Drybeans
- 2nd drybeans
- Wheat
-
Tested Regions: Brazil
- Average Generation Time: < 1 second
📜 ZARC Logic and Business Rules¶
Cycle¶
| Code | Cycle |
|---|---|
| 1 | Short |
| 2 | Medium |
| 3 | Long |
Soil type specification¶
| Soil Code | Soil Type | Crop |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ARENOSO | CORN, 2ND_CORN, COTTON; 2ND_DRY_BEANS; DRY_BEANS |
| 2 | ARGILOSO | CORN, 2ND_CORN, COTTON; 2ND_DRY_BEANS; DRY_BEANS |
| 3 | TEXTURA MÉDIA | CORN, 2ND_CORN, COTTON; 2ND_DRY_BEANS; DRY_BEANS |
| 11 | AD1 | SOYBEANS; WHEAT |
| 12 | AD2 | SOYBEANS; WHEAT |
| 13 | AD3 | SOYBEANS; WHEAT |
| 14 | AD4 | SOYBEANS; WHEAT |
| 15 | AD5 | SOYBEANS; WHEAT |
| 16 | AD6 | SOYBEANS; WHEAT |
Business Logic Based on Query Parameters¶
The behavior of the ZARC analytic depends on the presence or absence of the soil_type and cycle query parameters:
Case 1: soil_type not provided¶
- The analytic retrieves ZARC data at the municipality level, filtered by crop and cycle.
- It returns the earliest start date and latest end date available for the selected crop-cycle combination.
Case 2: cycle not provided¶
- The analytic retrieves summarized ZARC data at the municipality level, filtered by crop and soil_type.
Case 3: Neither soil_type nor cycle provided¶
- The analytic retrieves summarized ZARC data at the municipality level, filtered only by crop.
Risk Level Handling¶
- The
zarc_risk_leveloutput is only returned when bothsoil_typeandcycleare specified. - If either parameter is missing, the risk level is not included in the response.
- This ensures consistency, as risk levels are only meaningful when both soil and cycle are defined.
💼 Use Case and Product Integration¶
This analytic is used in:
📚 Glossary¶
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| ZARC (Agricultural Zoning of Climate Risk) | A strategic tool developed by Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture to define safe planting windows for crops, based on regional climate risk, soil type, and crop cycle. |
| NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) | An index derived from satellite imagery that measures vegetation health. Values range from -1 to 1, with higher values indicating healthier vegetation. |
| Emergence Date | The date when the crop is first detected as emerging in the field, based on NDVI time series. |
| Sowing Date | The estimated planting date, calculated by subtracting a fixed number of days from the emergence date. |
| ZARC Start/End Date | The official start and end dates of the planting window defined by ZARC for a given crop, soil type, and cycle. |
| ZARC Risk Level | The level of climate risk associated with the planting window. Only returned when both soil type and cycle are specified. |
| Status | Indicates whether the detected sowing date falls within the legal ZARC planting window (true) or not (false). |
| Soil Type | Classification of soil used in ZARC to determine planting windows. Examples include ARENOSO, ARGILOSO, TEXTURA MÉDIA, and AD1–AD6. |
| Cycle | Refers to the crop variety duration: Short, Medium, or Long. |
| Municipality Level | The administrative level at which ZARC data is aggregated when soil type and/or cycle are not specified. |
| WKT (Well-Known Text) | A text markup language for representing vector geometry objects such as points, lines, and polygons. |
| AOI (Area of Interest) | The geographic area selected for analysis. |