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December 11, 2023

Addressing Groundwater Overdraft in the Sacramento Valley

Though the Sacramento Valley has relatively abundant surface-water supplies, groundwater is also key for many of its communities and farms.

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November 23, 2023

Idaho’s Potato Belt

Almost one-third of American potatoes are grown in the Snake River Plain, a belt of low-lying land in the southern part of the state.

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November 7, 2023

Measuring Groundwater Overdraft in the Sacramento Valley

Much recent attention towards groundwater sustainability has focused on the heavily overdrafted San Joaquin Valley. However, the Sacramento Valley also needs to bring its groundwater basins into balance and avoid significant undesirable results of pumping.

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January 13, 2023

NASA-Related Effort Helping Ensure New York Water Quality

A new project involving Columbia University, New York City and NASA scientists will build a climate action plan to reduce the impact of climate change on New York's water supply, and ensure the agricultural sector continues to protect the city's water quality.

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December 20, 2022

Satellites Show Uptick in Cover Cropping on Farms

Big ag can be hard on the planet, with land often left barren between planting, leading to erosion of top soil. New results show farms in the U.S. Midwest are increasingly planting cover crops, benefitting the environment in a myriad of ways.

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December 12, 2022

Science for a Rainy Day

The NASA/USAID SERVIR program is helping Asia adapt to changing rainfall patterns.

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February 25, 2022

NASA's New Water Use And Crop Yield Simulator

NASA has co-launched a new modeling framework for assessing water use and estimating crop yields at regional levels. GEO-CropSim integrates Earth observations into crop models to help decision makers manage crop production while analyzing water use.

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August 19, 2021

Keeping America's Salad Bowl Full

In seasons when water is scarce, tools powered by NASA data can help farmers decide where to allocate water and nutrients for irrigation and fertilizer.

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April 5, 2021

WWAO Passes Baton to U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

We have liftoff! NASA WWAO's new Soil Moisture Data System is operational and has been handed off to its partner, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as the project comes to a close.

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March 29, 2021

New Partnership to Support Sustainable Agriculture

NASA’s Harvest program and soil analytics company CropX have announced a new partnership. The alliance will provide farmers and industry experts with insights that help improve farming sustainability by conserving resources and improving crop yields.

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December 16, 2020

From Space to Farm

Farmers rely on the Landsat satellite to make decisions about crops, with far-reaching implications that can impact what we see on our dinner plate. In this curious video, Landsat's view of crops from space can be heard in the form of music.

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December 7, 2020

Biodiversity Beneath Our Feet

Increasing attention is being paid to soil biodiversity, which drives many processes that produce food or purify soil and water. A UN report highlights how critical soil organisms are, and how soil biodiversity can offer solutions to today's global threats.

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September 15, 2020

Arming Farmers With Data as Water Dwindles

Water managers need accurate, consistent and timely data. A new online platform called OpenET puts NASA data in the hands of farmers, water managers and conservation groups.

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April 21, 2020

When it Comes to Water, Think Global

Planet Earth should be named Planet Water, with 70% of its surface covered in ocean. Yet the freshwater that sustains our lives is a precious resource. NASA is at the forefront of monitoring it from every angle.

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June 15, 2021

Western Soils And Plants Are Parched

For the second year in a row, drought has overtaken much of the U.S. from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. Our Crop-CASMA soil moisture data portal, jointly developed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reflects the dry times.

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March 11, 2021

NASA Data Power New Soil Moisture Portal

WWAO's new soil moisture data portal - Crop-CASMA - is live. Crop-CASMA, which provides high-resolution, field-scale soil wetness from NASA satellites in an easy-to-use format, is a collaboration between NASA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and George Mason University.

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December 17, 2020

NASA, USDA Increasing Innovation in Agriculture

A new agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and NASA will strengthen agricultural and Earth science research. WWAO’s collaboration with the USDA on its High-Resolution Soil Moisture Project fits into this larger partnership.