CHALLENGE

Leveraging Earth Observation Data for Informed Agricultural Decision-Making

Farmers face a deluge of water-related challenges due to unpredictable weather, pests, and diseases. These factors can significantly impact crop health, farmers’ profits, and food security. Depending upon the geography, many farmers may face droughts or floods—sometimes both of these extreme events occur within the same season! Your challenge is to design a tool that empowers farmers to easily explore, analyze, and utilize NASA datasets to address these water-related concerns and improve their farming practices.

Background

Farmers around the world grapple with a myriad of challenges that threaten their livelihoods and food security. These challenges include unpredictable weather patterns that disrupt planting and harvesting schedules, pest infestations that damage crops, outbreaks of diseases that affect livestock, and even political tensions that impact trade and access to essential resources. These factors collectively contribute to the vulnerability of agricultural communities by impacting crop health, profitability, and overall sustainability. Innovative solutions that empower farmers to leverage data-driven insights from trusted resources—including NASA Earth data—are needed to tackle challenges related specifically to water. Farming and agronomy are already full-time jobs; a means for the agricultural community to take advantage of the free Earth observation data NASA offers without needing to become data scientists could reap tremendous benefits. The current landscape reveals a growing interest in applying satellite data and advanced technologies to address agricultural challenges; however, it can be challenging to translate complex data into actionable information farmers can use. Traditional farming practices often rely on experience and intuition, which may not be sufficient to mitigate increasingly complex and unpredictable environmental conditions. The lack of access to timely and relevant data exacerbates these challenges, hindering the ability of farmers to make informed decisions and adapt quickly to changing circumstances. Past efforts to integrate large authoritative datasets for these purposes have often struggled due to lack of a “farmer-centric” design, limited stakeholder engagement, and inadequate scalability of solutions. It is vital to keep these pressures and vulnerabilities in mind when considering issues such as global food security, water availability, and the resilience of agricultural systems in the face of climate change and other environmental stressors. A tool that bridges the gap between NASA's wealth of Earth Observation (EO) data and the practical needs of agricultural communities would be invaluable to foster resilience, sustainability, and community empowerment in the face of ongoing challenges.

Objectives

Your challenge is to design a tool that connects the agricultural community with NASA’s satellite and geospatial datasets in ways that increase data access, integration, reporting, and/or advising about a water-related environmental topic of concern to farmers. By integrating NASA datasets and data analyses in your tool’s design, you can create new solutions and prototypes that support farmers by providing improved prediction capacity, risk management, and/or decision-making processes. Your tool could embody the power of agricultural technology, empowering farmers with real-time data and expert guidance relating to changes in water resources. With this knowledge in hand, farmers could optimize production, manage resources efficiently, and ultimately make smarter decisions about crops and livestock. Whatever type of tool you design, don’t forget your target users! How can you make your tool relevant and easy to use for the agricultural community? For example, farmers will likely want to determine the characteristics of water resources for selected spatial and temporal ranges. They will want to understand how the information relates to their specific situation (e.g., locale, size, and type of farm, etc.). Can you develop a tool to explain the data in practical terms and visualize the information in a useful way? Technology has the power to revolutionize farming. Imagine a super-powered tool that helps farmers unlock the dynamics of the hydrologic cycle to help them better manage their land. That's exactly what we're aiming for with this challenge! What are your ideas for connecting farmers to Earth observation data and information in innovative ways? Share your thoughts and ideate a tool that truly empowers the future of farming!

Potential Considerations

You may (but are not required to) consider the following:

To determine whether this challenge is the right fit for you, consider if one or more of the following apply:

• Do you have a foundational understanding of (or interest in learning) agricultural practices and the key factors that influence crop health and productivity?
• Do you understand Earth observations/remote sensing data and wish to explore the intersection of their potential applications in agriculture?
• Are you a creative individual who lives in areas where food security, drought, or flooding is a problem (or have you been affected by these in the past) and wish to be part of the solution?

The goal of the challenge is to design an easy-to-use tool that will help the agricultural community:

• Consider the needs of farmers, agronomists, soil scientists, laborers, and others in the agricultural community.
• Consider NASA’s remote sensing assets. NASA freely distributes over 50 years of Earth Observing remote sensing data related to:
  • Precipitation: Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG)
  • Floods: Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis (OPERA), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
  • Drought: Landsat, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS)
  • Vegetation growth: Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
  • Air quality: MODIS, VIIRS
  • Clouds: Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), MODIS, Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2)
  • Soil moisture: Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)
  • Evapotranspiration: ECOSTRESS, MODIS, Landsat
• How might NASA’s data resources be used in a way that empowers the agricultural community, including individual farmers, to tackle their water woes?
• Design or make a tool that explores your ideas! You could make a storyboard, slide deck, a prototype, or something else.
• Do you have an idea but need help getting started? Perhaps you are interested in working with weather, soil moisture, or plant growth/health applications but are not sure where or how to start. Check out the Data Pathfinders listed in the Resources section. Data Pathfinders guide users through the process of selecting application-specific datasets and learning how to use them through intuitive tools, facilitating equal and open access to the breadth of NASA Earth science data. The pathfinders are intended to familiarize users with and provide direct links to the applicable, commonly used datasets across NASA’s Earth science data collections.

Here are some ideas to consider as you ideate your design:

• Data Detective: Imagine a tool that won’t overwhelm the intended user. Your tool could serve as a “one-stop shop” for exploring and downloading real-time and historical EO data. Consider designing a user-friendly interface to make it easy for users to find the information they need about specific locations and farming needs—no matter what level of technical skills they possess.
• Crop Challenges: Think of fun challenges and points to include in your tool that help to gamify the learning process. These elements can make it even more rewarding to explore and evaluate data (and who doesn't love a friendly competition among farmers?).
• Farming Fusion: How about a tool that won't leave users in the data dust? Could your tool seamlessly combine the power of NASA's EO data with farmers' own field observations? This capability would allow farmers to compare what they see on the ground with what satellites observe, which could enable personalized insights and recommendations in plain language. Get creative! Will you integrate data from drones or Internet of Things (IoT) devices to enable continuous data collection? Or design a data collection program/methodology that places a strong emphasis on data sovereignty, cultural sensitivity, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) & CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics) principles, and responsible data management practices?
• Data Dashboard: Forget deciphering cryptic reports! How might your design transform data into a crystal-clear picture of a farm's risk of limited water access or flooding? Consider incorporating current and historical values for key environmental factors that impact crops (e.g., soil moisture, precipitation, flooding, drought, seasonal trends, and long-term patterns) into your tool. Your tool could provide users the opportunity to explore what information would be most helpful for both small-scale and large-scale farms. Consider creating a dashboard that's as informative as it is insightful!
• Ask the Agricultural Experts: Farmers have a lot of questions! Consider a tool that will connect them with a network of subject matter experts who can offer practical advice based on real-world data. This feature could offer users a safe space to ask questions and seek guidance.