New Food (March. 1) -- Scientists at Illinois hope to use data from the invisible light bounced back by crops to monitor the photosynthetic efficiency of any field across the world to evaluate crop conditions and forecast crop yields on a global scale in real time. “Photosynthetic performance is a key trait to monitor as it directly translates to yield potential,” says Kaiyu Guan, a professor of environmental engineering at Illinois. “This method enables us to rapidly and nondestructively monitor how well plants perform in various conditions like never before.”