The intense world demand for food together with environmental issues related to the sustainable use of natural resources draw a picture of search for the maximum efficiency in agricultural productivity, which involves greater efficiency in monitoring crop areas. Analytical tools capable of encompassing sample variation and territorial reach demand high costs for their operation and for the replication of results. Remote sensing has proved a very efficient tool for mapping/monitoring agricultural areas, especially for accompanying harvests, water deficit and biomass measurements, for it has obtained extremely relevant synoptic and spatial results. However, it is still under development in terms of the exploration of its quantification and qualification properties. The project's objective is to develop quantitative methods for the remote mapping and measurement of soil and plant characteristics. As a result, we expect the development and enhancement of non-destructive, easy-to-use quantification and analysis methods adapted to the tropical environmental context and directly applicable to the mapping of large areas. This kind of approach will contribute to the identification of different plant varieties, phytosanitary stadia of the crops, to the direct reduction of economical/environmental costs related to the use of pesticides, as well as to establishing productivity-associated pedologic characteristics. The impact of such technology is considered essential for the reduction of costs of agricultural production and research, at the first level of the soybean production chain, and consequently of other targets of high relevance to agriculture. For more information, please access: http://www.cnpm.embrapa.br/projetos/agspec