NASA Harvest

Check out our August newsletter! 👉 http://conta.cc/4gapOVn We're announcing a new partnership with Mathematica and highlighting a Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report looking at drought across Southern Africa. We also discuss our new high resolution maps of sunflower cropland across Ukraine and the insights they're providing into how the important oil crop's production has changed since the Russian invasion.

We are so excited to formally announce our partnership with KERNEL - Ukraine's foremost grains producer and exporter, a key player in the global sunflower oil market, and a significant provider of agricultural goods from the Black Sea region to global markets.   “This partnership underscores our collective dedication to addressing the complex challenges facing global food security and agricultural production in one of the world’s major breadbaskets. We are thrilled to continue our partnership in the 2024 year,” says Inbal Becker-Reshef, NASA Harvest Program Director. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eBXCqBVW

🤩It's hard to keep up with all the accomplishments by Assistant Professor Catherine Nakalembe (Ph.D.)! #thisgirlisonfire #geographicalscience 4/14: Featured on The Washington Post 4/15: Selected by Dean Susan Rivera as an Exemplary Researcher for the University of Maryland 4/16: Received 2024 Early Career Impact Award https://lnkd.in/ewhCfnAi

Congratulations Fernanda! Your contributions to NASA Harvest's agricultural monitoring and food security support efforts have been remarkable. Your dedication makes a real difference in addressing global challenges. Keep up the fantastic work!

"📣 The 2024 edition of the Program on Agricultural Estimating and New Technologies for agrotechnical schools, promoted by Bolsa de Cereales and NASA Harvest, has begun. On the 170th Anniversary of the Grain Exchange, this program, successfully developed for 4 years, is relaunched, with the incorporation of new classes and updated content, for the entire country. Around 250 students from agro-industrial educational establishments in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Salta and Santa Fe will be trained in the use of remote sensing tools and applications for georeferencing, crop monitoring and the use of high-resolution images. The first meeting was held today, where Florencia Bedacarratz, Head of Operations and Markets of the Grain Exchange and Ramiro Costa, Chief Economist of the same Entity, gave a few words of welcome highlighting the spirit of this program of bringing knowledge and the use of technology to students. Also present was Estefanía Puricelli, NASA Harvest Consultant, who introduced the team of outstanding teachers who will participate: Antonio Sanchez, NASA Harvest Latin America Lead on Coordinator and Blake Munshell, NASA Harvest / University of Maryland Technical Co-Lead. Subsequently, Cecilia Conde and Martin Lopez, Head and Analyst of Agricultural Estimates of the Stock Exchange respectively, explained to the participants the dynamics of the Program and the contents and opened a space for questions and answers to evacuate all doubts. With this initiative, the Grain Exchange continues to make its contribution, both with the training of human resources within the Argentine agro-industrial sector, and with the improvement of the accuracy of the agricultural estimates prepared by the Institution, contributing to the transparency of the markets and global food security."

So happy to officially launch the fourth year of our joint educational program with Bolsa de Cereales! So far 250 students in Argentina have registered for the 2024 course and we're looking forward to another exciting year! Read more about the program 👉https://lnkd.in/ePRze5tW

NASA Harvest's South Asia Lead, Meghavi Prashnani, traveled to New Delhi, India to discuss the intersection of AI and agriculture, particularly how AI is allowing us to improve farmer outcomes, enhance climate resilience, and strengthen supply chains. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eeuKrt6N

When Farmland Becomes the Front Line, Satellite Data and Analysis Can Fight Hunger Timely, transparent, actionable crop production data aggregated from local to global levels is necessary to inform farmers, policymakers, and humanitarian organizations making decisions about food production and distribution. The inherent danger of ground-based data collection, especially in occupied territories of the conflict, has demanded a different way to assess planted and harvested areas and forecast crop production. Satellite-based information can provide this evidence quickly and reliably. One of NASA Harvest's main aims is to use satellite-based information to fill gaps in the ag-info ecosystem. Since the start of the Russia–Ukraine conflict, we have been using satellite imagery to estimate the impact of the war on Ukraine’s croplands. Before the war, Ukraine accounted for over 10% of the world’s wheat, corn, and barley trade and was the number one sunflower oil exporter. Food produced in Ukraine is critical for its national economy, for global trade, and for feeding millions across the globe. Our analysis found that Russia occupied ~22% of Ukraine’s cropland. While many observers speculated that 2022 production would be greatly reduced—with the winter crop harvest & the spring crop planting 30%-50% lower than previous years—the satellite data told a different story. We found that ~90% of the wheat crop had been harvested, and that the large majority of available croplands were planted with spring crops. Planting and harvesting losses were concentrated along the front line. We estimate the amount of abandoned cropland in Ukraine in 2023 is equivalent to about 7.5% of total cropland in the country. Had this land been planted, it could have produced enough to feed 25 million people for one year. In 2022, production of staple crops in Ukraine was only slightly below the five-year average and in 2023 it was close to or slightly above average, largely owing to good yields. Crucially, however, a large proportion of this production—approximately 22% of wheat and 10% of sunflower—was harvested in Russian-occupied territories. To put this in perspective, the wheat harvested in the occupied territories in 2023 is roughly equivalent to the 2023 wheat harvest of Kansas (the 2nd largest producing state in the US) & represents about 60% of total wheat imports to Egypt (the world’s largest wheat importer). To date, NASA Harvest is the only entity reporting on crop production in the occupied territories, which are continuing to produce a sizable amount of staple crops critical for global food supplies. Check out this article in Issues in Science and Technology by NASA Harvest's Inbal Becker-Reshef and Mary Mitkish to learn more about how we're using satellite data and local partnerships to assess planted and harvested areas, forecast crop production, and inform global markets. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eSQCD3xd

🚀 Revolutionizing Agriculture: NASA Harvest and ucrop.it join forces again! 🌱 We renew our alliance to boost efficient, profitable, and regenerative agricultural practices. 🛰️ This will be achieved by leveraging NASA's satellite data and aiming to develop a cutting-edge nitrogen fertilization model, safeguarding soils and reducing pollution. 🌍 With a focus on Argentina's wheat crops, this collaboration empowers farmers with a groundbreaking tool to optimize nitrogen use, ensuring environmental sustainability and increasing yields. 💡 Through traceability and scientific innovation, we are enhancing production profitability and moving towards soil conservation. Join us in shaping a greener and more resilient agricultural future! #NASAHarvest #ucropit #SustainableAgriculture #Innovation #ClimateAction 🌾

General Mills and Unilever have officially teamed up with Harvest Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (SARA) Initiative to advance conservation agriculture practices around the world! Visit the Harvest SARA website to read all about their generous support & the SARA mission.