On November 2 and 3, NASA Acres hosted our inaugural Kick-Off Meeting at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, gathering Consortium partners and collaborators from over 40 organizations with a shared commitment to supporting national agriculture and food systems using satellite data and technology.

This event will set the foundation for NASA’s new, U.S.-focused Consortium on agriculture and food security.

Over 50 Consortium partners and collaborators will gather in St. Louis, Missouri this November for the inaugural NASA Acres Kick-Off Meeting. This event is the first Consortium-wide gathering since its formal launch in April of this year. The Consortium is led by the University of Maryland with Research, Development, and Extension Partners at nine other universities and two supporting private organizations, comprising top-of-the field scientists and practitioners in agricultural remote sensing, artificial intelligence, soil science, agronomy, rangelands, sociology, economics, and data policy.

This week Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft, Executive Director of NASA Acres, attended the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London. The Summit brings together 900 senior decision makers from across the agri-food sector, including agribusinesses, food brands, farming co-operatives, policymakers, investors, and startups. The event investigates what is needed to spark critical action and build a more sustainable food system.

At the conference, Dr. Whitcraft gave a Lightning Talk on her work with NASA Acres, NASA Harvest, and Harvest Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture (SARA) Initiative and chaired a panel on "Measuring and Monitoring Soil Health to Build Sustainable Farming Practices".

Acres scientists compile satellite data to support Maui wildfire response

In a live radio interview, Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft speaks with David Geiger of The Big Show to talk about what satellites can see and what that means for agriculture. Access the full interview recording and transcript.