Using remote sensing technologies such as drones, satellites, and mobile apps can improve crop cutting experiments (CCEs) conducted for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) agricultural insurance program in India. A pilot project in Maharashtra called TOPS integrated satellite imagery, weather data, and a mobile app to automatically select sampling locations, estimate crop yields virtually, and produce high resolution yield maps. Initial results found crop yield estimates were within 8-22% of independent assessments. The project demonstrated resource optimization through intelligent sampling and yield monitoring at village-level scales. Wider adoption of such technologies could help make CCEs more efficient and yield estimates more accurate.