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A study of the use of ERS-2 data was conducted over agricultural farmland sites in the Negev Desert.. The ERS -2 data were acquired using the ISA (Israel Space Agency) receiving station operated by the Israel Aircraft Industry. Concurrent field measurements including the deployment of well-calibrated corner reflectors were also achieved. Results show that for individual fields where the soil roughness is kept at a constant the radar backscatter cross-section correlates well with the soil moisture component. However, without a priori knowledge of soil roughness the correlation is relatively poor. To solve for roughness and soil moisture, a technique is being developed using two ERS images. By this method 43% of the variance in the radar backscatter is explained by soil moisture. Further work involves the development of techniques to solve for both parameters. Furthermore, scatterometer has been constructed to map soil moisture under controlled conditions for precision agriculture and environmental monitoring.