Excerpt from GEOSS *Strategic Plan:
The state of agriculture and forestry observations continues to mature, as technology provides us with more tools to monitor ground cover. Partnerships exist between private land managers, Federal agencies, Conservation Districts, Resource Conservation and Development Councils, state and local conservations agencies and organizations, non-governmental organizations, state, local and tribal governments, rural communities, businesses, universities and others. Cooperation among these organizations is increasing agricultural productivity and efficiency, conserving natural resources, improving the environment, and enhancing quality of life for rural areas.

However, we are realizing the weaknesses of Earth observations from nonintegrated, stand-alone observations. Creating useful information out of disparate databases is extremely time consuming, and is therefore often ignored. Inferences based upon one source of data can prove misleading to decision makers. Integrating various key measurements of the ecosystem will provide a truer perception of the actual environment, leading to better decisions on how to manage our scarce resources.

Another critical challenge is to maintain current observing capabilities that already exist in each of these areas. For example, maintenance of the observational record of stratospheric ozone is essential so that the effects of climate change on the nature and timing of expected ozone recovery can be discerned. Other key variables requiring maintenance include radiative energy fluxes of the Sun and Earth, atmospheric carbon dioxide, and global surface temperature. Since the value of existing climate datasets greatly increases as the record is extended in time, it is imperative that existing observing capabilities be maintained and improved, while at the same time new requirements are incorporated.

SERVIR Agriculture Links

• Fires
• Land Cover
• Food Security