[rousing music]
[bright music]
[laughter]
- Did you hear that?
I think it's almost lunchtime.
But have you ever wondered where food comes from?
Why do some of the best oranges
come from Florida, and peaches come from Georgia?
Does it matter where food grows?
- Where food grows is really important because we want
to make sure that everybody in the world has enough food,
and nobody is hungry.
My job at NASA Harvest is to help people around the world
become more food secure, which means that they have
enough water, enough nutrients
to ensure that they can survive in case
of a drought and have access to food.
We can see farms all around our world
using satellite imagery.
They can look extremely different depending
on the rainfall, temperature and soils,
and their shapes and sizes.
So you can find really large farms in places
like Iowa and Illinois that are going on.
And then you might find irregular,
very small fields in Africa where there's a dependency
on smallholder agriculture.
The environment and certain geographic features
affect how well plants grow.
Certain geographic features
are important for specific crops.
For example, in states like Iowa and Illinois,
farms are very flat, expansive,
and the weather and environment
are great for growing corn.
Likewise, in China and in India,
the environment is suitable for production of rice.
Rice needs hot and humid climates,
and is best suited for regions that have high humidity,
prolonged sunshine, and a sure supply of water.
- "Orange" you glad you asked?
Having an eye in the sky is beneficial to farmers.
But what does that data mean?
Ground and climate conditions play an important role
in determining where and when certain crops are grown.
But how do we know what grows better where?
What does the satellite data tell us?
- So we use the images that come from satellites
to map and monitor farms on Earth
by using the information contained
in every single pixel.
A pixel is the smallest dot that makes up an optical
satellite image, and basically determines how detailed
picture of Earth is from that satellite.
So the size of a pixel is really important.
A high resolution satellite image enables us
to see different features on the ground.
For example, we can distinguish between
a building and a tree in close proximity.
So if there's a tree right next to a building,
you can distinguish it.
As the resolution gets lower, it becomes more difficult
to distinguish between these different features,
especially when they're close to each other.
So for example, we wouldn't be able to tell the difference
between a crop field, a park, and a forest,
It would all just be vegetation.
So when we use satellite imagery,
we have to translate it into information
that others can understand.
And sometimes this requires using a map.
A map has a key that has symbols
that tell us what is in the map.
So when we develop a map from the imagery
that we've collected,
we create these color-coded maps
giving us ideas of what places might be experiencing drought,
like red areas, and areas that are borderline drought
that would be represented with orange
and areas that are flourishing
that it could be green, for example.
So satellite data are actually really important
for understanding how well crops are doing.
And so we can compare like this season
with previous seasons, as well as give a forecast
and a prediction for what might happen.
At the end of the season, like, will we have enough,
will we have the same as usual,
will we have less than usual,
or will we have more than enough
that then could be exported and support
other countries that might not have enough.
So we do get a lot of data from satellites.
It is really important because we can see
and understand what's happening in large areas.
But what makes that possible
is a lot of ground information.
We need to know what is on the ground
in order to understand what's in the satellite data.
And so we go to the field a lot
with phones and GPSes.
There's other ground information
like from weather stations that are on the ground
that are used so we can evaluate, validate,
and make sure that what satellite data is telling us
is in fact true by looking at vegetation conditions.
- So it's important to make sure that the satellite data
"pears" nicely with the data that's on the ground.
And you can help NASA do that
by using the Land Cover Adopt a Pixel tool
on the GLOBE Observer app.
Now you know how NASA helps us get food in our world.
I'm going to go see what's growing in my garden.
See you next time.