New NASA Acres Consortium Grows NASA Investment in U.S. Agriculture
March 8, 2023 - Written By Keelin Haynes
The United States is one of the world’s top agriculture producers and exporters, putting food on the table both at home and abroad, all while supporting nearly 10% of U.S. jobs and 5.4% of the U.S. gross domestic product. As the effects of recent extreme weather events, the COVID-19 pandemic, global conflict, and market volatility are felt worldwide, many farmers and ranchers at home are feeling the squeeze as they retain just 14.6 cents on the dollar of consumer food spending. A key priority for our nation is ensuring that this vital sector has the tools and information it needs to yield sustainable and high quality food and jobs.
This is why NASA has increased its decades-long investment in U.S. agriculture through the launch of its new U.S.-focused agriculture consortium, NASA Acres. This consortium unites top scientists from physical, social, and economic sciences with agriculture stakeholders under the shared mission to bring NASA data, science, and tools “down-to-Earth” for the benefit of U.S. agriculture.
“Farmers and ranchers are looking for information to help them make all sorts of decisions, from water use to what crops to plant and when. NASA is always looking for new ways to help people find and use Earth science to inform their decisions, so we’re very excited about this new consortium to help America’s farmers use NASA Earth science data,” said Karen St. Germain, head of NASA’s Earth Science Division.
A flexible and agile approach to meet U.S. agriculture’s dynamism
Commissioned under NASA’s Applied Sciences Program and led by the University of Maryland, NASA Acres utilizes a consortium structure that empowers UMD to bring together a geographically, thematically, and personally diverse group of agriculture actors from public and private sectors in a model that matches agriculture’s own highly dynamic and diverse needs. Flexible partnerships and rapid action are tools in NASA Acres’ belt that will help ensure that its satellite-based Earth observations (EO) applications are user-driven and fit-for-purpose.
According to the Director of NASA’s Applied Sciences Program, Lawrence Friedl, “the consortium approach gives a lot of flexibility and agility to be responsive to current needs and especially opportunities that arise to put Earth science into action.”
NASA Acres is NASA’s second consortium devoted to strengthening food security and agriculture, but this time with a specific emphasis on the nation’s own agricultural land. Its creation follows the success of NASA Harvest, a now globally-focused consortium that has produced significant impacts in the adoption of EO-based methods and tools for food security and agriculture around the world since its inception in 2017. Alyssa Whitcraft, an associate research professor in UMD’s Department of Geographical Sciences, will serve as the Director of NASA Acres, and bring the experience gained from helping build NASA Harvest as its Deputy Director to further strengthen NASA’s footprint on U.S. farmlands and pastures.
“My mission has always been to feed people—not just in my home, and not just today, but looking ahead for the many generations to come,” said Whitcraft. “U.S. agriculture is a cornerstone of the global food system, and it is awesome to have this opportunity with NASA to benefit my own ‘backyard.’”
U.S. farmers and ranchers have their own space agency
While NASA is widely known for space exploration missions, NASA focuses most if its time studying our home planet. Since the launch of its first Landsat satellite in 1972, NASA has been mapping agriculture worldwide and providing key input into global supply outlooks that bolster the country’s economy and food security worldwide.
“We want farmers to know that their space agency has an agriculture program that is focused on understanding their needs and finding solutions with them, said Brad Doorn, who leads the NASA agriculture program area that oversees NASA Acres and Harvest.
Making sure that U.S. agriculture actors are connected directly into NASA’s agriculture work, and are driving its focus areas, motivated the agency’s 2022 “Space for Ag” tour across Nebraska and Kansas, as well as its presence at the Commodity Classic Conventions in 2022 and 2023.
Broadening the net through NASA Acres
In addition to supporting key commodity crop growers, NASA Acres’ portfolio opens with work with smallholder farmers in Maui County, Hawaii; specialty crop growers in California and New York; ranchers in Colorado; and farmers regenerating marginalized and degraded agricultural lands across the country. The consortium partners will use the deep record of satellite data and state of the science machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to optimize nitrogen application and irrigation scheduling, to support early detection of pests and disease, to provide information tools to support local food production, and to bolster soil health.
Other projects in the consortium will focus on using open science to improve mapping capabilities that support these user-driven applications, help us understand how U.S. agriculture is evolving, and shed light on effective management strategies to build economic, environmental, and productive resilience to global change.
A common thread that underpins the consortium is promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice both through its work and within agricultural science and technology. According to Whitcraft, “increasing diversity and inclusion in our field is not just the ends—it’s the means for us to achieve all of our objectives. We can’t practically make a difference in addressing major food system challenges in the U.S. without working in marginalized communities with the people who live and work there and know what needs to be done more than anyone else. We have to bring their experiences to bear across the whole program.”
Similarly, although most farmers and ranchers Whitcraft knows are excited by the potential of NASA technology to help them build their bottom lines as well as a land legacy for their descendants, she is also aware of serious concerns about data, technology, and the power they can wield. This is why NASA Acres will include work with sociologists, legal scholars, farming associations, and farmers through extension in order to understand and address pain and pressure points around data and technology.
Finally, Whitcraft emphasizes that NASA Acres relies first and foremost upon those closest to the land. “While we have seen enormous value in the use of NASA data and tools, we also know that what works in one place can’t just be picked up and dropped in a new place. To bring the greatest value of satellite data to U.S. agriculture, we have to start with place-based knowledge. Pairing that with satellite data unlocks powerful insight.”
As NASA Acres carries out its mission, stay up to date and learn how to get involved by visiting NASAAcres.org and following @AcresProgram.
For more information on NASA’s broader agriculture portfolio, visit the NASA Applied Sciences website.
NASA Acres Initial Consortium Project Lead Institutions: