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Did you know NASA keeps track of food production from orbit?

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Pioneering scientists in the 1980’s realized that satellites

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could “see” plants growing from space.

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This monumental discovery occurred when NASA scientists

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figured out how to use satellites to measure chlorophyll in plants

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which is reflected as green light into space.

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With a flood of new data pouring in, NASA, USDA and the University of Maryland

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created an online tool that could track crop health

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anywhere in the world in near-real-time.

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The team called the inaugural platform, GLAM – Global Agricultural Monitoring.

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The system has withstood the test of time and is still in use today.

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Inspired by technological advancements and increased computing power in recent years,

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additional global agricultural monitoring systems have been developed,

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including NASA Harvest’s GLAM 2.

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Here at home, when a massive derecho hit the Midwest in August of 2020,

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satellite data helped analysts to rapidly assess the damage.

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This natural disaster caused upwards of four billion dollars in damage

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one of the costliest windstorms of the past decade.

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Using Earth observation data for these types of damage estimates

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helps American and international markets prepare for potential commodity crop shortages.

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In the face of more extreme weather due to our changing climate,

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food security is one of the most important challenges of this century.

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NASA technology is helping keep our leaders informed

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our markets stable, and our populations fed.

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