National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Agricultural Efficiency

One of the nation's and the world's most vital needs is a stable and dependable food supply. Planet Earth adds roughly 75 million new human inhabitants each year, and agricultural production must increase each year to meet the resulting increased demand. In order to improve our agricultural efficiency, an increased understanding of the ties between global climate phenomena and local weather events is needed so that agricultural production can be optimized for local growing conditions. This understanding may provide more accurate and timely information to farmers and organizations responsible for food and water management decisions.

The summer of 1988 was North America's worst drought on record since the infamous "dust bowl" years of the mid-1930s. This NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer satellite image shows where anomalously low (brown pixels) and high (green pixels) plant growth occurred in August 1988. Brown regions show drought and green show where the plants are thriving due to unusually high levels of rainfall. (Image courtesy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Biospheric Sciences Branch) Learn more at NASA's Earth Observatory

The U.S. is a world leader in agricultural production and export. Agriculture accounts for over 13% of the U.S. gross domestic product. Agricultural exports total more than $50 billion annually and account for about 8% of the U.S. worldwide export totals. Any disruption in the productivity of domestic agriculture can have long-range economic impacts. The 1988 drought in the Midwest, the worst drought since the 1930s, caused an estimated $40 billion in crop damage. Exceptionally wet years, as the Midwest experienced in 1993, engender similar devastating effects on production. Reliable seasonal forecasts of precipitation and temperature can have enormous positive economic impact for the global agricultural industry. Likewise, in-season monitoring of global and domestic crop production can provide the intelligence necessary to mitigate the effects of extreme weather events on the agricultural economy and provide resource managers with the information needed for decisions on agricultural production, marketing, and food aid.

NASA scientists are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to better understand seasonal variability of climate and apply that understanding to agricultural issues. Space provides an ideal vantage point for the measurement of critical parameters for agricultural production, such as water availability, radiation, and vegetation health, over large areas and at low cost. NASA is teaming with the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service and the National Agricultural Statistics Service to incorporate NASA space-based measurements into models and systems used to monitor and forecast global and domestic agricultural production.

Photo: The MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) provides a look at vegetation around the globe year round.

The sophisticated Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flown on both the Aqua and Terra satellites, collects daily global data on vegetation condition, surface temperature, snow cover, and evapotranspiration. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) provides comprehensive data on precipitation at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Altimeters on board the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 satellites can be used to monitor water levels in reservoirs around the globe. The Landsat satellite program provides operational data on agricultural production at the regional or local scale. These NASA research instruments have planned follow-on systems on future operational satellites (e.g., GPM, NPOESS) ensuring the long-term sustainability of the information flow.

Data from these systems also feed complex climate models developed to improve climate forecasts. Research indicates that many extreme year-to-year changes in local weather conditions are associated with changes in global-scale climatic phenomena. Measurements of ocean surface temperatures and ocean biology are fed into models for predicting the timing, duration, and strength of these climatic events. The ongoing efforts to improve these models will lead to more accurate local weather and precipitation forecasts tailored to the needs of agricultural planning.

These NASA missions are helping the science community better understand the forces that drive global climate and weather. The results of this NASA research in Earth science and technology will be integrated through the partnership with USDA into local and regional decision support systems for agriculture management.