Improving EO Methods for Conservation Agriculture Practices & Evaluating How They Impact Soil Health

Feb 23

*Linking in-field measurement of cover crop performance at different growth stages (right) with satellite data (left) supports mapping of cover crop adoption and performance at landscape scale*

Project Summary

Cover crops and conservation tillage are the premier conservation agriculture practices expanding in adoption across the US. Combined, these practices conserve/build soils, reduce nutrient loss, and mitigate against and adapt to climate change. However, we have limited knowledge on the degree in which farmers are adopting these practices, their overall performance, and how much they vary spatially within farm fields. The NCSU, USDA, and USGS Team will be working together to develop new frameworks to improve Earth Observation methods for monitoring CSA practices and model their impact on soil erosion.

Study Area:

Maryland | Delaware

Mississippi | Iowa

Earth Observations Used

Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS)

Sentinel-2

Resources

Thieme et al., 2022. Remote Sensing Evaluation of Winter Cover Crop Springtime Performance and the Impact of Delayed Termination. Agronomy Journal 115(1) Jan 2023, 442-458. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21207

Gao et al., 2023. Near real-time detection of winter cover crop termination using harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) to support ecosystem assessment. Science of Remote Sensing 7 (2023) 100073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2022.100073

Hively et al., 2020. Estimating the effect of winter cover crops on nitrogen leaching using cost-share enrollment data, satellite remote sensing, and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) modeling. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 75 (3) 362-375. https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.75.3.362

Dennison et al., 2023. Modeling global indices for estimating non-photosynthetic vegetation cover. Remote Sensing of Environment 295 (2023) 113715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2023.113715

Other Project Personelle

Feng Gao USDA-ARS

Brian Lamb USGS

Jyoti Jennewein USDA-ARS

Collaborators

Feng Gao USDA-ARS

Brian Lamb USGS

Jyoti Jennewein USDA-ARS

Regrow Ag

Indigo Ag

Perennial

Lead Institution