From Space to Farm to Impact: NASA's Listening Tour in Illinois
Leadership from NASA Earth Action, NASA Acres, UIUC, and various commodity and farmer groups pose for a photo after the Earth Science and Agricultural Research Symposium at UIUC
June 6, 2024 - Written By Nicole Pepper
HERE WITH OPEN “EARS”
On Tuesday, April 23, NASA Acres and NASA Earth Science leadership traveled to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) campus, a top agricultural research institution, as a part of NASA’s annual Space for Agriculture Listening Tour. The Illinois tour included an Earth Science and Agricultural Research Symposium, a two-hour roundtable discussion, and a visit to UIUC’s 320-acre Energy Farm.
As the nation’s leading producer of soybeans, the second leading producer of corn, and the producer of many other vital crops, the agriculture industry in Illinois plays a critical role in food and economic security in the United States. In 2023, Illinois’s 10.3 million acres of soybean planted produced nearly 649 million bushels– a production equivalent to over 8.2 billion dollars.
Behind the success of Illinois’s thriving agriculture industry are farmers, industry experts, and researchers – and NASA had the chance to speak with a few of them.
UIUC WELCOMES NASA FOR EARTH SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM AND FARM VISIT
UIUC’s Agroecosystem Sustainability Center, College of ACES, and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE), welcomed NASA leadership and affiliates including Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft, Executive Director of NASA Acres, and Dr. Tom Wagner, Associate Director of Earth Action at NASA. Local agricultural groups, such as the Illinois Corn Growers, Soybean Association, and Farm Bureau, also attended.
Throughout the tour, UIUC and NASA leadership facilitated discussions with the Illinois agriculture community around what is needed to maximize the societal impact of satellite-based innovations on agriculture in the United States.
One of the critical discussion points that emerged was the adoption gap for new agricultural tools. The groups discussed why some farmers are reluctant to embrace new technologies and what can be done to bridge that divide. They also discussed strategies for reaching farmers more effectively, focusing on tailored communication and education to foster technology uptake.
The jump from space to farm is vast and farmers play an integral role in making sense of the information that satellites are seeing from space. Most high-quality, satellite-derived agriculture products and maps rely on farmer data to train and validate them. Given the reliance on farmer data, the group emphasized the need to get the relationships and best practices around data governance right.
“We know that success is predicated on farmer involvement. Our mission, paid for by public dollars, is to support farmers in having a productive, sustainable and resilient system to support their rural communities for decades and generations to come,” said Dr. Whitcraft.
ACRES OF POSSIBILITIES AHEAD
The collaboration between land-grant universities, like UIUC, and NASA Acres presents an important opportunity to leverage foundational research that advances agricultural technology and lays the groundwork for impactful public and private partnerships.
“The last mile in science and any work really is getting it out into use,” said Dr. Whitcraft. “This type of meeting where we sit around a roundtable, we have these conversations, that’s the beginning of actually setting up the bridge that can cross that last mile.”
ABOUT NASA ACRES
NASA Acres Consortium is one of NASA’s most recent investments in agriculture. The Consortium focuses on bringing satellite data “down to Earth” by connecting farmers and agrifood system players across the United States with the latest Earth observation science and technology.
Dr. Kaiyu Guan, an Associate Professor and founder of the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center, serves as Chief Scientist at NASA Acres and is a Project Lead for research focused on remote sensing and agroecosystem modeling to support sustainable nitrogen management in the Midwest.
NASA Acres website: nasaacres.org
Twitter: @AcresProgram
Monthly Newsletter: nasaacres.org/newsletter
For media inquiries or more information on NASA Acres, please contact:
Nicole Pepper, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, NASA Acres
nicole@nasaacres.org