In-Situ Crop Phenology Data of Major European Crop Types from France and Bulgaria at a Field Level

Abstract

Crop phenology data offer crucial information for crop yield estimation, agricultural management, and assessment of agroecosystems. Such information becomes more important in the context of increasing year-to-year climatic variability. The dataset provides in-situ crop phenology data (first leaves emergence/phenophase, BBCH10-BBCH13, date, and Harvest date) of major European crops (wheat, corn, sunflower, rapeseed)  from seventeen field study sites in Bulgaria and two in France. Additional information such as the area of each site, coordinates, the sowing date, method and equipment used for phenophase data estimation, and photos of the France sites are also provided. The georeferenced ground-truth dataset provides a solid base for better understanding and therefore improves the prediction capability of crop growth using remote sensing.

Keywords: Winter crop, Summer crop, Start of growing season, End of growing season, BBCH, Phenology