Harvest

@NASA's Global Food Supply & Agriculture Consortium
est. 2017
Earth Data for Informed Ag Decisions

(Tweets our own, for official NASA comms visit @NASAEarth)

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Our September newsletter is out now!

• New models to track crop growth stages & cycles
• ADAPT-Kenya builds national ag data infrastructure
• Fields of the World launches a user advisory group
• @AcresProgram joins NASA’s Space4Ag Tour

Read it here 👉https://t.co/JD1C3vuhAa

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Satellite data could make sustainable farming practices easier to verify at scale.

A new pilot in Ukraine is testing whether Earth observations can confirm crop rotation, potentially lowering verification costs & improving access to green finance.

🔗 👉https://t.co/JaucbZdzjB

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Congratulations to NASA Harvest scientist and @umdgeography Assistant Professor Dr. Abdul Qadir for receiving the 2026 Science for Solutions Award from @theAGU!

Dr. Qadir uses remote sensing and machine learning to monitor ag in data-sparse regions. https://t.co/BnrLNUlKfB

[Taylor Geospatial @TaylorGeoAI]

We're convening experts around the world—including from @WFP, @WorldResources, @CIMMYT, NASA @HarvestProgram, @Bayer, & @planet—to improve usability of the first open ecosystem for global agricultural field boundary detection from satellite imagery: https://t.co/ej2CBfsJna

[Department of Geographical Sciences @umdgeography]

Congratulations to @HarvestProgram scientist Abdul Qadir on receiving the 2026 Science for Solutions Award from @theAGU! 🎉

Qadir uses satellite remote sensing & machine learning to address agricultural challenges in data-sparse regions.

🔗 Read more: https://t.co/IzsDUrk200

[MIT Spectrum @MIT_Spectrum]

From studying distant planets at @eapsMIT to tracking crops on Earth: Sheila Baber ’21 uses satellite data through @HarvestProgram to support global food security. 🛰️🌾 https://t.co/TqOXz7WCTL

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

The Crop Cycle Detection model has already been applied across ~53,000 North Carolina fields to examine season timing and cropping intensity.

Both models are open source, with additional tools to make them easier to use.
https://t.co/985aT86i2q

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Two new open-source models from NASA Harvest and @agmatixhq use satellite-derived NDVI time series to answer two related questions: what stage of growth is a crop in, and how many cropping cycles has a field gone through?
🔗https://t.co/985aT86i2q

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

The Crop Stage Detection model estimates one of five broad crop stages and is being tested in a near-real-time harvest detection workflow for corn and soybean fields in North Carolina.

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Led by Kenyan government institutions with NASA Harvest, ADAPT-Kenya brings together partners including @gatesfoundation and @MSFTResearch's AI for Good Lab to strengthen Kenya's capacity to produce and use its own agricultural data.

🔗https://t.co/Wd043hbzHF

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

What if agricultural data arrived while there was still time to act on it?

Our new initiative, ADAPT-Kenya, is building a national system for crop maps, yield forecasts and early warnings using satellite data and AI.

🔗https://t.co/Wd043hbzHF

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

What if agricultural data arrived while there was still time to act on it?

Our new initiative, ADAPT-Kenya, is building a national system for crop maps, yield forecasts and early warnings using satellite data and AI.

🔗https://t.co/Wd043hbzHF

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Where can AI strengthen food security early warning, and where are its limits?

NASA Harvest's Inbal Becker-Reshef, Weston Anderson, and colleagues argue for using AI to support, not replace, expert analysis.

https://t.co/XCqVpGCkhF

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Our August newsletter is out now!

• Tracking farmland abandonment & recovery in Ukraine
• Brian Barker on El Niño risks in @ForeignPolicy
• Responsible AI for food security early warning
• @AcresProgram hosts U.S. farmers in D.C.

Read it here 👉https://t.co/ycBggezsQB

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

The study also found recovery: 472,000 hectares of previously abandoned land returned to management in 2024, compared with 285,000 hectares officially declared safe for recultivation. The gap may partly reflect informal demining.

https://t.co/tjP7IEQRKW

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Previous estimates of cropland abandonment in Ukraine have varied widely, partly because fallow and abandoned fields are often grouped together. A new NASA Harvest study separates the two and tracks how farmland has changed during the war.

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

Across Ukraine, cultivated cropland fell 8.5% from 2021 to 2024. In 2024, researchers estimated 1.8M hectares were fallow and 2.2M were abandoned, with roughly 1.1–1.7M hectares potentially facing longer-term abandonment.

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

NASA satellite data on snow cover and vegetation are helping improve river-flow forecasts used to manage reservoirs, hydropower, and water supplies during a year of snow drought and water extremes in the western U.S.

https://t.co/K4CU1OLxiC

[Department of Geographical Sciences @umdgeography]

Can we rely on AI to predict famine?

GEOG researchers caution that AI can miss emerging threats + struggle with unreliable data, particularly in conflict zones. They argue for using AI selectively while keeping human experts in the loop, @NatureFoodJnl

https://t.co/RtfwTPWdgH

[Planet @planet]

We’re sharing an open data release for the flood that swept through the Bhote Koshi–Trishuli river corridor across the China-Nepal border today. This resource is intended to help support disaster response experts, and will be updated as we capture more imagery of impacted regions. Our thoughts are with the communities affected and the first responders working to respond to this disaster.

Access the dataset at: https://t.co/8Wtq3mtWqH

[Harvest @HarvestProgram]

A strong El Niño can disrupt harvests, but the impacts won’t be evenly felt. NASA Harvest and @G20_GEOGLAM’s Brian Barker spoke with @ForeignPolicy about what this year’s event could mean for agriculture around the world.

https://t.co/FQwGvvo5kL