New sources of aerial imagery have recently become available, providing expanded availability and the promise of timely acquisition and delivery.  Automated systems are being developed to process the acquired images into maps of N stress with subsequent conversion to variable rate application maps.  University research has recently demonstrated a strong relationship between SPAD chlorophyll meter readings, observed yield losses, and N rates required to recover crop yield potential.  Other work has shown that aerial images are closely related to SPAD readings, thus opening the door to corresponding algorithms linking image values to these N recommendations.  Parallel improvements in application equipment are also underway that should better utilize the resultant high resolution N prescriptions.  Some of this technology is still evolving, but there is growing acceptance that significant improvements in N management will only be possible if we rely upon the crop itself to provide instructions to fine-tune its own nutrition.