Space fr Agriculture: Opprtunities t supprting a Cmpetitive Agricultural sectr in Canada Andrew M. Davidsn, Ph.D Manager, Earth Observatin, Center fr Agr-Climate, Gematics & Earth Observatin, Science & Technlgy Branch.
Earth Observatin at Agriculture and Agri- Fd Canada (AAFC) Earth Observatin helps AAFC t understand: The extent and diversity f Canada s agricultural landscape. The current state and changes in this landscape and in agricultural prductin. This will allw AAFC t prvide leadership in the grwth and develpment f a cmpetitive, innvative and sustainable Canadian agriculture and agri-fd sectr. 2
Earth Observatin Wrking fr Agriculture Visin: T understand the state f Canadian agricultural prductin frm pre-planting cnditins thrugh t pst harvest cnditins. Decades f earth bservatin research at AAFC has led t the develpment f innvative agricultural mnitring capabilities that are, r clse t being peratinal: Crp type, area and cnditin. Snw cver, Sil misture, Excessive wetness, Drught. Climate and weather related impacts n prductin. Crp yield frecasting. Harvest prgress mnitring. Sil management (tillage, crp residue). Bimass prductin. Crp damage, disease and pests. Sil health. Operatinal In Develpment Planned 3
Example: Mnitring State and Change 2014 Space-Based Crp Inventry fr Canada EO-based data indicate where, hw much and hw agricultural land use changes. Allws annual land use changes t be tracked between imprtant cver types. STATE CHANGE 4
Opprtunities (I): New Sensr Technlgies Advances in satellite and sensr engineering Miniaturizatin f electrnics. Large light-weight structures. Cmpact ptics. Imprved cling. High-perfrmance nbard cmputing. Mre efficient transmitters. will lead t launch f EO sensrs with enhanced capabilities,... Technlgical advances cupled with the launch f satellite cnstellatins will prvide mre frequent and cheaper EO data at fine spatial reslutins. Will allw tempral revisit times and IFOVs required fr detailed mapping acrss a wide range f gegraphic extents (lcal t natinal). prvide data cntinuity & lng term data recrds, Lng term data cntinuity is essential fr mnitring and the creatin f cnsistent and reliable histrical recrds fr anmaly detectin. Imprtant because users want ready-t-use data frm sensrs whse calibratin is transparent t them.
Opprtunities (I): New Sensr Technlgies drive a new generatin f scalable and spatially explicit agrenvirnmental (AE) indicatrs Input data t create current agr-envirnmental metrics is limited by incnsistent data cllectin requires re-allcatin f variables measured using different spatial framewrks. A new generatin f spatially explicit and scalable indicatrs will use new EO data t prvide natinal-scale, cst-effective, timely, accurate and scalable infrmatin at the prducer level. and imprve the utput f prcess-based mdels. Spatially distributed prcess mdels use EO data t define initial cnditins, drivers f prcesses, state variables and crp phenlgy. These mdels include many uncertainties and ften use prly knwn parameters t make their prjectins. Limitatins can be addressed using EO data t prvide spatially and temprally cmprehensive infrmatin n envirnmental surfaces. 6
Opprtunities (II): Data Prcessing Centralizatin Data prcessing centralizatin... Gvernment f Canada (Gc) Departments have variable capacity t deal with this grwing vlume f EO infrmatin (Data Cubes, Big Data). Centralized data centers will allw mre efficient data prcessing under a GC-wide slutin, and meet the GC s current and future requirements, including thse relating t gespatial and EO data. will allw increased data vlumes t be mre quickly and efficiently acquired, prcessed and stred. Data centres will allw applicatins and systems t be develped and tested befre ging live as well as live systems and applicatins. A few data centres with the capacity t prcess and stre large vlumes f cmplex data can huse the supercmputing services fr many GC departments requiring scientific cmputing. Mving applicatins t the data, rather than data t the applicatins will becme the nrm. 7
Opprtunities (III): Open Data and Infrmatin Open data archives in Canada and elsewhere will imprve access t data, prducts and services, Let end users use infrmatin in their way fr their wn purpses (but requires easy discvery, access and use f data). increase internatinal cllabratin,... G20 GEOGLAM System f Systems set up t imprve infrmatin n crp status tr educe vlatility f glbal markets and prvide early warning t supprt fd security wrldwide (includes the Jint Experiment fr Crp Assessment and Mnitring, JECAM). leading t glbally cnsistent methds fr data validatin. Validatin methds ften variable-dependent and determined by specific data availability fr a place and time. Validatin standards fr higher-rder EO prducts yet t be fully develped. Prduct validatin using cmmn standards is vital fr meeting future needs f end users in agricultural sectr.
Future Directins Dmestic: Accelerated Operatinalizatin f R&D Early seasn crp acreage estimates. Yield frecasting with crp area estimates will prvide in-seasn crp prductin estimates. Supprts: Practive prgrams (early warning); Market access, cmpetitiveness, in-seasn crp quality; Prducers, pen market infrmatin t supprt management decisins. Imprved yield frecasts linked t Statistics Canada Surveys t prvide mre reliable prductivity assessments at higher reslutins. Requires: Sil Misture Mnitring (integrated EO, in-situ and mdeling); Crp grwth parameters (LAI, fpar) and NRT crp cnditin assessment; Harvest Mnitring. EO-based farm management infrmatin (e.g. n tillage type, timing and crp residue) supprts indicatrs and market access issues. Internatinal: AAFC cmmitments t G20 (GEOGLAM) Mving JECAM research frm what wrks at ne site t guidelines n what wrks at different sites glbally. Will imprve ur capacity t mnitr diverse landscapes, prvide infrmatin t supprt decisin making. 9