A sort of hotline for governments, aid agencies and farming associations, the aim is to use images from space that are then sifted and interpreted by AI models to predict potential crises early. The results will guide various responses to crops and food supply. — Unsplash
Right after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, crop scientist Inbal Becker-Reshef got a letter from officials in Kyiv. They wanted to figure out how much wheat and other grains were lost to Vladimir Putin’s occupying forces.
Work began on tracking and mapping lost crop production using satellites and remote sensing. It’s one of many assignments Becker-Reshef and her team of more than 20 scientists have been tasked with since founding an arm of US space agency NASA that monitors agriculture around the world.
