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Food Security Assessment and Agricultural Monitoring
 Monitoring of agricultural crops throughout the growing season was one of the earliest applications of satellite remote sensing and it remains an important activity within OALS. Using satellite data, it is possible to estimate cropped area and, often, to identify specific crops. Using time series satellite data it is possible to monitor the progress of the growing season. By comparing the current season to past seasons or averages of previous seasons, it is possible to make some predictions about harvests or the quality of the season. Since 1987, OALS has worked in applying these approaches to agriculture in general, but also to assessing food security situations in Africa through the use of famine early warning systems. To determine whether a problem is imminent, in addition to monitoring the growing season, it is also necessary to monitor those things that might suggest whether a population is in distress, such as cereal and livestock prices in local markets. OALS has worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture both to develop new decision support tools and to design new approaches and integrated systems for monitoring agriculture and food security.
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