Crop yield forecasting for paddy rice grown in agricultural fields requires labor if done by field survey, while it is difficult to ensure the accuracy of forecasting based on meteorological data gathered at observation points across the country. Further, optical remote sensing is affected by weather. A crop yield forecasting formula calculation unit (30) generates a crop yield forecasting formula on the basis of the correlation between SAR backscattering intensity of widely-scattered sample agricultural fields during the first half growth period and growth features of the paddy rice, such as the number of stems, found by field survey. By using this crop yield forecasting formula, a crop yield calculation unit (34) determines an estimated value for a growth feature of the paddy rice in a target paddy rice field on the basis of the backscattering intensity of the paddy rice field as obtained from an SAR image thereof captured during the first half growth period. The number of grains of rice produced in the target paddy field, which corresponds to the crop yield of paddy rice, is predicted from the estimated value for the growth feature of the paddy rice, since the growth feature correlates with the number of grains of rice.
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