Geospatial Data Needs to Grow Across the Continent

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Rick Mueller, Spatial Analysis Research Section Head, National Agricultural Statistics Service, on April 8, 2014 at 10:00 AM

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

During the month of April we will take a closer look at USDA’s Groundbreaking Research for a Revitalized Rural America, highlighting ways USDA researchers are improving the lives of Americans in ways you might never imagine.

Over the past several decades, satellite imagery has emerged as one of the most valuable new tools in modern agriculture. At USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), we strive to remain at the forefront of this technology to continually advance our statistical products in service to U.S. agriculture. To keep abreast of how our counterparts in other countries are implementing this exciting new technology, last month we hosted representatives from the Canadian and Mexican agriculture departments in a Tripartite meeting. As geographic neighbors and statistical collaborators, we are particularly interested in each others’ work and how we can learn from each other.

It was exciting to see that Statistics Canada, working with Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, is researching new remote sensing-based yield models, using vegetative indices, agro-climactic data, and survey data for 21 crops. As a result of this innovation, Stats Canada is planning to use only remote sensing to set their official estimates for these crops rather than conducting traditional surveys. This is a tremendous step forward for a statistical estimates program that we will be watching with great interest.

In Mexico, our counterparts at the National Institute of Statistics and Geography conducted a ground survey campaign to identify field crops and performed crop classifications to identify sorghum, maize, and lemons in various parts of Mexico and worked with their NASS and Statistics Canada colleagues to characterize vegetation condition indices. At the same time, our colleagues at the Mexican Agrifood and Fisheries Information Service used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for drought monitoring and are researching vegetation indices and how they relate to yield.

On NASS’ end, we discussed our remote sensing models for corn and soybean yields using NDVI and daytime surface temperatures from MODIS. We also discussed the current and future status of the Landsat program and demonstrated how to access the free data. I presented an overview of the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) and how we continue to evolve and update this program. I have previously discussed in this blog our satellite imagery progress and tools, such as CropScape, which we have developed in partnership with George Mason University. We continue to update that tool and have recently made available 2013 geospatial data for U.S. crops.

Having seen how remote sensing and geospatial programs are implemented by our international neighbors reminded us once again that progress does not stand still. We can learn a great deal from each other. Going forward, we hope to continue to push the boundaries of this technology to enhance our statistics and ensure easy public access to interactive visualizations of U.S. agriculture.

Members of the Canadian, Mexican and U.S. agricultural Tripartite delegation during meetings on uses of satellite imagery to enhance agricultural data products.

USDA Collection Preserves Garlic's Genetic Diversity

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Jan Suszkiw, USDA Agricultural Research Service Information Staff, on March 25, 2014 at 2:00 PM

“This group of diverse garlic germplasm represents all the types that might be found at a farmer’s market.” Photo courtesy of Barbara Hellier, ARS

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

Raw or dehydrated, garlic is a staple ingredient in dishes the world over. This herb, Allium sativum, is also the focus of medical research investigating the health-imparting properties of allicin, a compound that gives garlic its pungent aroma and flavor.

Americans consumed 2.3 pounds of garlic per person in 2010. Perhaps most familiar to consumers is the large white bulb commonly sold in supermarkets. But there’s more diversity there than meets the eye, or the taste buds, says USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) horticulturist Barbara Hellier.

It’s no exaggeration to say Hellier knows her garlic—and her leeks, chives, shallots, and wild onions, for that matter.

Hellier is curator of the National Plant Germplasm System’s Allium Collection at the ARS Western Regional Plant Introduction Station in Pullman, Wash. She oversees the maintenance, description, and distribution of 293 garlic specimens, 16 primitive garlics, 207 leeks, 44 chives, and 579 wild, ornamental and native Allium species.

“What we see in supermarkets is generally one type—a white softneck type and elephant garlic, which isn’t really garlic, but rather a type of leek,” Hellier says. Garlic lovers with a taste for something a bit more diverse might try a farmer’s market, for example, or place an order with a specialty grower. “At a farmer’s market, shoppers are likely to come across more of the true diversity of garlic, like the hardneck purple to purple-stripe types; small, pearly white silverskins; creole-type hardneck with red clove skin; or  white hardnecks with fiery hot taste.”

The Pullman collection includes garlic specimens acquired from around the world—but especially Central Asia, the crop’s point of origin—and serves as a backup to varieties grown commercially in the United States.

Today’s garlic is vegetatively propagated, meaning it’s grown from cloves, not seed. However, “There is no potential for breeding new varieties with vegetatively produced plants,” notes Hellier.  Recently, she and ARS colleague Phil Simon have been assisting small-scale growers seeking to reverse that trend using several of the collection’s seed-producing garlics.

“It will be interesting to watch what comes from the efforts of these growers trying to produce true seed,” she says. “They have passion for garlic and are looking for novel traits.”

Jointly Developed Watershed Assessment Model Being Used in Yosemite National Park

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Tara T. Weaver-Missick, USDA-Agricultural Research Service Information Staff, on December 3, 2013 at 3:00 PM

Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite National Park, California (USDA-NRCS photo by Ron Nichols).

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

An award-winning watershed assessment tool, the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA), was deployed to assess potential Rim Fire threats in Yosemite National Park in California.  The park experienced a devastating fire that began on August 17, 2013, and took several months to contain. The fire burned more than 400 square miles in and around the park, cost $125.8 million to date, and is considered one of the largest wildfires in California’s history.

BAER (Burned Area Emergency Response) is a multi-agency group that includes USDA’s Forest Service and others, and is responsible for identifying potential threats such as downstream flooding and developing plans to rehabilitate and restore burned areas. BAER teams use AGWA to target immediate efforts to prevent threats to people, wildlife and the land.  Using AGWA combined with the burn severity map produced by BAER teams, experts can rapidly pull together information on pre- and post-fire conditions. For example, knowing where to apply mulch after a fire can reduce runoff and erosion and can help minimize downstream risks from fire induced land cover and soil changes.

AGWA has already been successfully used for post-fire BAER team watershed assessments following fires in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Idaho and Washington.  AGWA was jointly developed by scientists with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, AZ, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Universities of Arizona and Wyoming.

ARS researchers and their partners originally developed the computer model as a multipurpose computer system and software tool designed for managing and analyzing water quantity and quality to help keep our Nation’s watersheds cleaner. AGWA uses nationally available data sources to rapidly establish and execute results from two ARS-developed watershed models, the Kinematic Runoff and Erosion Model (KINEROS2) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT).  It enables the user to visualize and compare model results to understand the impact of a certain practice on a given landscape.

How we manage activities that take place on crop production areas, rangelands, pastures, forests, meadows, and urban areas influences the quantity and quality of water available for domestic, industrial, agricultural and ecological uses. You can learn more about AGWA at www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/agwa.