Swedish University using Specim Hyperspectral to advance real-time crop monitoring

SLU moves crop nutrient testing out of the lab and into the paddock

Maintaining a precise understanding of crop nutrient levels is absolutely vital for driving sustainable, high-yield crop growth. However, the industry has long been held back by traditional laboratory testing, which is notoriously slow, destroys the sampled crops, and fails to give farmers a real-time look at how nutrient concentrations shift throughout the growing season.

An initiative called the Hyper-näring project is set to change this. Driven by researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), the project bridges the gap between complex agronomic science and cutting-edge technology. By deploying Specim’s hyperspectral imaging solutions, the team is successfully transitioning non-destructive nutrient analysis out of sterile laboratories and straight into live agricultural environments.

Acquiring images with the portable Specim IQ in the field
Acquiring images with the portable Specim IQ in the field. From these images, we can extract canopy-level reflectance values.

Historically, checking on crop health meant cutting down plant samples and waiting days for laboratory workflows to return data. While these conventional methods are accurate, their destructive nature makes them non-repeatable and their long cycle time makes frequent testing impossible. This leaves a blind spot when it comes to tracking how multiple nutrients interact over time.

The SLU team focused their research on breaking this cycle. Their goal was to create a reliable methodology for repeated, non-invasive crop scanning across every major growth stage, ensuring the data captured in a controlled greenhouse matches up perfectly with trials conducted out in open paddocks.

The engine behind this breakthrough is hyperspectral imaging, which scans plants across hundreds of narrow wavelength bands to collect rich spectral reflectance data. To build a robust workflow from the ground up, SLU integrated an ecosystem of distinct Specim hardware:

Specim FX17: Tasked with capturing ultra-high-resolution NIR hyperspectral data in the lab. When mounted to an RS10 rotary scanner, it easily transitions to scanning potted plants in greenhouses or test plots. The FX17 senses in the NIR/SWIR range 900-1700nm and offers 230 spectral bands with 8nm FWHM and 1000:1 SNR. A high quality precision sensor.
Specim IQ: A portable, handheld unit that allows researchers to step out into the field, verify image quality on the fly, and instantly capture canopy-level reflectance. It has built–in computer and touch screen and runs spectral models for instantaneous results in the field. The Specim IQ has a built-in scanner and so does not need the RS10. It senses in the VNIR (400 – 1000nm), outputs 224bands with 5.5nm FWHM and 600:1 SNR.
Configuration of the FX17 camera for non-destructive measurements in laboratory and field conditions
Configuration of the FX17 camera for non-destructive measurements in both laboratory and field conditions. The FX17 was mounted on an RS10 rotary scanner attached to a tripod, giving the ability to capture images of plants in pots (in the lab or greenhouse) as well as in the field.

By utilising these systems together, the researchers can gather uniform, comparable datasets across entirely different environments, which is a crucial step for validating their models and turning raw science into practical farming tools.

"Specim’s hyperspectral systems allow us to monitor several nutrients simultaneously without destroying the plant material. This opens entirely new possibilities for understanding nutrient dynamics across growth stages," says Julianne Oliveira, Principal Investigator of the Hyper-näring project at SLU.

Checking image quality and illumination conditions with the Specim FX17 and Specim LabScanner 40x20
Checking image quality and illumination conditions. After imaging the potted plants and harvesting the material, the SLU team additionally scanned the plant samples using the Specim FX17 with the Specim LabScanner 40×20, a desktop scanning system utilising a horizontal linear stage.

The project’s initial findings point to a bright future, successfully isolating specific spectral signatures linked to nutrient levels and tracking their evolution over the season. Because a single hyperspectral scan captures a massive, data-rich full spectrum rather than just measuring a single metric, the value of the data is future-proofed. Long after the physical plants are gone, scientists can revisit the exact same digital datasets to answer entirely new research questions.

Furthermore, this technology looks at the bigger picture of crop performance. The exact same spectral data can be leveraged to monitor broader indicators of plant health, including moisture or climate stress, early disease onset, and overall biomass development. This multi-layered insight makes hyperspectral imaging an incredibly versatile asset for precision agronomy.

Lab setup used to image plants in pots with the Specim IQ and Specim FX17
Lab setup used to image plants in pots. The Specim IQ camera and its corresponding image are visible. The Specim FX17 was used under the same conditions, but mounted on the RS10 rotary scanner. This ensured that both cameras captured images of the same plant under identical conditions.
Project workshop in Uppsala 2025 demonstrating and testing cameras under field conditions
Project workshop in Uppsala 2025, where SLU demonstrated and tested the cameras under field conditions. This is where field experiment design and data collection protocols were designed.

While Hyper-näring is anchored in rigorous academic research, its ultimate goals are highly practical. By proving that hyperspectral imaging can transition seamlessly from indoor trials to the unpredictable conditions of a commercial farm, SLU is laying the groundwork for a new generation of smart, on-farm diagnostic tools and automated nutrient management systems.

Through every stage of this research-to-field journey, Specim’s hyperspectral imaging solutions provide the precision, portability, and adaptability needed to turn high-tech imaging into everyday agricultural reality.

Exploring hyperspectral imaging for your applications?

Whether your focus is crop research, precision agriculture, or plant phenotyping, Specim’s hyperspectral imaging solutions enable reliable, non-destructive analysis across environments, from laboratory studies to field deployment.

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