NASA Harvest News
Snack Time with NASA: Inbal Becker-Reshef Highlights Importance of EO for Ag Monitoring and Food Security
NASA satellites and Earth observation data play a major role in agricultural monitoring, particularly in support of bolstering food security by putting timely and actionable information into the hands of decision makers. From monitoring crop production throughout the growing seasons, to providing economic insights, advances in remote sensing technology and computing capabilities are increasingly valuable across the agricultural sector. NASA Harvest Program Director and geospatial scientist, Dr. Inbal Becker-Reshef, explains the connections between satellites in space and food security on Earth in the first episode of Snack Time with NASA, all while making a delicious 7-layer "cropland" dip!
This month, NASA at Your Table is highlighting Earth observation data and satellite-based information being applied by experts across the agricultural spectrum. Ranging from early warning to inter-agency connections to economic stability and conservation agriculture, follow along to glean insight from the perspectives of many NASA Harvest partners as well as experts in the fields of ranching, fisheries, and more!
Using its satellites, aircraft and computer models, NASA is helping water managers respond to today's most pressing environmental challenges. NASA’s drought resource page will be updated throughout the year, detailing how NASA is helping farmers, reservoir managers and decision makers track and monitor the ongoing drought, predict how much water will be available, and help improve how we use the water we have.
NASA Harvest’s Abdul Qadir has been awarded a NASA ROSES-2020 grant for his proposed research studying the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Russia and Ukraine. The grant, Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) funds graduate student-designed research projects.
A research team including NASA Harvest’s Dr. Mehdi Hosseini studied new methods for detecting changes in soil moisture levels over short time periods. Using data collected from a field campaign, the team tested the capabilities of both satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sensors. Their results show the effectiveness of both collection platforms as well as potential avenues for improvement. 
People of Harvest: Meet the Members of our Consortium
This new interview series features a different member of the Harvest team each month, introducing them and their work. This inaugural segment looks at one of the many undergraduate researchers working with NASA Harvest. Madhava Paliyam, a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, works with Harvest’s AI Lead Dr. Hannah Kerner on a number of projects.
Submit Your Work
Given the success of Volume I, the Research Topic “Democratizing Earth Observations-Based Science to Improve Agriculture, Food Security and Resilience, from Village to Globe: Volume II” will be accepting manuscripts for publication. Co-edited by NASA Harvest Program Director, Dr. Inbal Becker-Reshef, Dr. Kiersten Johnson [USAID], and Dr. Molly Brown [6th Grain Corporation], this Research Topic is seeking submissions that “demonstrate the extent to which the Geosciences are making revolutionary strides in applying EO data to the world’s most pressing problems while leveraging and building capacities of all stakeholders, from village to globe.” Submissions can include novel EO applications in food security and agriculture; analysis of current capacity shortfalls in fully utilizing EO data in those two areas; and the creation of new agricultural EO datasets. Given the focus on multi-level stakeholder capacity, all submissions should concentrate on local realities of the research, how stakeholders at multiple levels were engaged in the creation and execution of the project, remaining challenges to cross-stakeholder cooperation, and how cross-stakeholders can partner in future endeavors.
The deadline for manuscripts submission Oct 11, 2021.
Edited by Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft and Dr. Ritvik Sahajpal, the Special Issue "Cropland Carbon" in the journal Land will focus on cropland carbon and how it can be impacted by regenerative agriculture (RA) techniques. This Special Issue is seeking submissions focused on the modeling of carbon in RA systems; the use of EO to monitor how crop productivity is affected by RA management techniques; linking climate change, food security, and soil degradation in traditional vs RA systems; and creating baseline spatio-temporal datasets on RA management practices.
Manuscript submission deadline EXTENDED through November 1, 2021.
"Recent Advances for Crop Mapping and Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Data" is a Special Issue being published in Remote Sensing and edited by Dr. Mehdi Hosseini, Dr. Ritvik Sahajpal, and Dr. Hannah Kerner. This special issue is accepting submissions that demonstrate recent advances in EO applications in agriculture including "crop type mapping; crop yield prediction; cover crop mapping; crop residue monitoring; and crop water stress and disease monitoring." Papers utilizing advanced remote sensing techniques like multiresolution data fusion; SAR and optical data integration; and SAR polarimetry and interferometry are particularly welcome.
Manuscripts are accepted through Feb 28, 2022
The new Section "Discoveries in Remote Sensing" was created with the goal of promoting diversity in science. It seeks innovative work on "remote sensing applications, technology, discussions, and ethics" produced by research teams embodying the Section's goal of transdisciplinary research and diverse perspectives. In an effort to broaden the field of submitted papers, the co-editors are offering a “Get one, Give one” where they match every paid manuscript accepted in the section with a processing fee waiver for another article. The editorial board is comprised of: Dr. Catherine Lilian Nakalembe, Dr. Karen Joyce, Ms. Morgan A. Crowley, Dr. Kate C. Fickas, Dr. Cristina Gómez, Dr. Meghan Halabisky, Dr. Michelle Kalamandeen, and Dr. Gopika Suresh.
The submission deadline for the “Get one” paper is August 31, 2021 and the submission deadline for the “Give one” paper is December 31, 2021. To get involved with the “Get one, Give one” offer, email cris.wang@mdpi.com.
Upcoming Events
Organized by the NASA Earth Applied Sciences Program, Earth Science Applications Week highlights experts and end users from within and outside the agency, speaking about everything from space-borne to boots on the ground solutions to our planet's most pressing concerns. This year, we're celebrating 20 years of the Applied Sciences Program as we know it today! Daily plenary sessions provide insight into NASA's Applied Sciences projects and people, followed by flash talk sessions and opportunities to network and engage. The full conference schedule can be found here, including the NASA Harvest session on August 11th at 1pm EST.
AmeriGEO Week 2021 aims to bring communities together to ​identify the synergies ​and paths toward collaboration ​​among​ regional efforts related to ​the integration of​ Earth Observations, Geographic, Statistical and other information. As a community, we recognize that data integration is the first step toward transforming data into meaningful and valuable information for decision-making and that a joint effort is needed to achieve this goal. These talks intend to elevate the conversation beyond programmatic updates and facilitate an insightful discussion about multilateral cooperation. Information on registration can be found here, including Session 5 on food security and sustainable agriculture led by NASA Harvest.
Planet Explore 2021 is set to be held virtually this year and will be free for all attendees! The live event will include talks from several keynote speakers including NASA Harvest Africa Program Lead Dr. Catherine Nakalembe. Drs. Inbal Becker-Reshef and Hannah Kerner will also be presenting on many NASA Harvest activities throughout the event. There will be various opportunities to learn from end users and discussions on leveraging satellite imagery and insights. Goals of the annual conference are to bring together industry thought leaders, customers, partners, end users, and developers for two days of learning and conversation.
SERVIR Amazonia is hosting a series of talks focusing on women in the geospatial workspace. The series includes three webinars this summer. The first meeting took place in June and focused on women in leadership positions in geospatial organizations. Upcoming talks will cover "Perspectives from Indigenous Women" (July) and "Networking and Mentoring Approaches" (August). In addition to the webinars, a self-paced online course covering technical and "power skills" training is available. A competitive in-person fellowship for 2022 is also available with applications opening soon. Information on the webinar series, online course, and fellowship can be found on the SERVIR Amazonia project site.