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Hello there!
Welcome to our August Recap Newsletter! In this issue, we are bringing you the latest updates and insights from the NASA Acres Consortium.
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Survey highlights farmers’ belief in data ownership and collaborative data use
As agriculture becomes increasingly digital, it is important to keep a finger on the pulse of farmer sentiment regarding how agricultural data is used. Earlier this year, NASA Acres teamed up with Farm Journal’s Trust in Food Initiative, with input from ADT, to survey farmers on a variety of aspects of ag data collection and use. More than 1,000 farmers provided their perspectives. While comprehensive survey findings will be released after analysis is complete, several themes come through clearly. Following are highlights that point to the need for transparency, simplicity, and trust in the use of ag data.
- Farmers Own Their Own Data: Farmers overwhelmingly believe they own their ag data. However, they are less confident in their understanding of other aspects of their ag data, especially regarding who has access to it and how it is currently stored.
- Farmers Welcome Help in Data Use: Farmers would welcome help in using their ag data better, but only a third of them know who to ask.
- Data Privacy is a Concern: Farmers have concerns around data privacy (including being unable to retain control over their data once it is shared) and their data potentially being misused or even used against them.
For more information about the initial survey results and our Initiative on Farmer Data Governance, read the full article by Ag Data Transparent, linked below.
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Photo Credit: Ryan Young/Cornell University
From space to farm: readying NASA satellites to help growers
In August, NASA leadership visited NASA Acres research partners at Cornell’s main campus, Cornell AgriTech, sites in Niagara county and the Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Lab in Portland, New York. These site visits were a part of a three-day “Space for Ag Tour” by NASA leaders to better understand the remote sensing needs of Cornell AgriTech researchers, specialty crop growers and local stakeholders.
The tour was designed to foster two-way dialogue with growers and stakeholders to improve NASA Earth Science’s Earth-observing satellites and instruments for specialty crop agriculture and viticulture and foster a broader conversation about how to effectively translate research into practice.
“My hope is that by having this Space for Ag Tour here, by showing them New York viticulture as well as what we have to offer here at Cornell, it can help grow the specialty crop footprint within NASA as well as their footprint in pest and disease research,” said Katie Gold, the event’s main organizer and an assistant professor.
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Map Credit: S. Aglasan, R. Rejesus | |
A study suggests that cover crop adoption can help mitigate crop insurance losses
The map above depicts the change in cover crop adoption rates by county between 2005 and 2015 in the United States (U.S.) Midwest. The change rate is indicated by color with blue indicating -1 to -0.1%, green denoting 0-1%, orange pointing to 1.1 - 3.6%, and red to greater than 3.6%. The higher adoption counties tend to be in the southern portion of the study area.
This map is a part of a broader study by Roderik M. Rejesus and Serkan Aglasan, published by AgEcon Search, which examined whether adopting climate-smart practices like cover crops can reduce crop insurance losses in the U.S. The study merged a novel satellite-based cover crop dataset, Operational Tillage Information System (OpTIS) developed by Regrow Ag, with publicly available crop insurance data to create the county-level panel data used in this study.
The study indicates that counties using more cover crops generally face fewer prevented-planting losses. According to Rejesus, this is because cover crops help manage excess soil moisture, which improves planting conditions and reduces the chances of farmers being unable to plant their cash crops.
Under NASA Acres, Rejesus, a leading quantitative agricultural economist based out of North Carolina State University, is investigating how Earth observation data can further generate economic value and economic insight in agriculture.
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NASA Space App Challenge has launched! Submit a response to our agriculture challenge
NASA Space Apps has just announced this year’s 20 Earth and space science challenges, written by NASA subject-matter experts like yourself! Through these challenges, NASA Space Apps Challenge participants will have the opportunity to utilize NASA’s free and open data – as well as its 15 Space Agency Partners’ data – to address issues we face on Earth and in space. This year’s challenges invite participants to use their ingenuity and skills to propose new technologies, find actionable use for data, and inspire learning and innovation through storytelling, software development, and more. NASA Acres and NASA Harvest have submitted a challenge statement calling participants to leverage Earth observation data to help farmers manage water-related concerns, like flooding and droughts.
Check out the Space App Challenge summaries
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Deere leads HabiTerre’s $10m Series A first close to build ‘the global standard’ for sustainability metrics
Building upon extensive research and development by University of Illinois professor Dr. Kaiyu Guan, HabiTerre’s “system-of-systems” technology monitors and measures the environmental impacts of farm operations. The system uses a combination of remote sensing, process models, and artificial intelligence to evaluate past, present and future land performance and create simulations that can predict environmental outcomes on the farm. Habiterre is a partner of NASA Acres and Dr. Guan is also a researcher and Chief Scientist for the Consortium; we look forward to collaborating and pushing forward the state of the science using EO to improve sustainability metrics.
Read the article by Ag Funder
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Job Announcement:
The Gold Lab at Cornell Agritech is hiring a lab/project manager
The Gold Lab is seeking a highly motivated, organized, and detail-oriented individual to be responsible for managing the operations, organization, project administration, and grant-funded research execution for the Gold Lab. This position will support the Gold Lab's research on specialty crops, including pest and disease early warning and detection, under the NASA Acres Consortium.
Priority deadline is Sept. 16, application open until filled
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Job Announcement:
Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) is Hiring a Post-Doctoral researcher on Carbon MRV and innovation dynamics
The Cornell CALS group, led by Dr. Steven Wolf, is seeking to hire a postdoctoral research fellow as part of our U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Acres-funded project on carbon governance and digital agriculture. This is a one-year full time research position that is renewable for a second year, dependent on available work, funding, and performance. The deadline for applications is Sept 15, 2024. The project aims to advance an interdisciplinary analysis of the implications of emerging technologies for Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) applied to GHG emissions reductions in agriculture.
Deadline is Sept. 15
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Job Announcement:
AgMIP Team at Columbia Climate School, Center for Climate Systems Research is hiring a Postdoc
The Columbia Climate School, Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR) is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Scientist (PDRS) to work in the area of global crop modeling and climate change at its Morningside campus in New York City. The PDRS will be part of an international team working to improve the responses of the global gridded crop model pDSSAT to flooding and cold temperatures in context of climate perturbation scenarios associated with nuclear conflict, atmospheric solar radiation management, and climate change. The work will be integrated into the AgMIP Global Gridded Crop Modeling Initiative (GGCMI) a highly collaborative and active research community with international visibility.
Application open until position is filled
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In late September, Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft, will be the keynote speaker at the 2024 Women in Agribusiness Summit. She will showcase how NASA is bringing its data, science, and tools "down-to-Earth" with ongoing cooperative projects to benefit the future of agriculture. This summit is a fantastic opportunity to learn from and connect with inspiring women leaders who are at the forefront of agribusiness innovation. Use code WHITCRAFT for 10% off registration for the event. | |
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