Monitoring and Mapping a Decade of Regenerative Agricultural Practices Across the Contiguous United States

Matthew O. Jones (), Gleyce Figueiredo, Stephanie Howson, Ana Toro, Soren Rundquist, Gregory Garner, Facundo Della Nave, Grace Delgado, Zhuang-Fang Yi, Priscilla Ahn, Samuel Jonathan Barrett, Marie Bader, Derek Rollend, Thaïs Bendixen, Jeff Albrecht, Kangogo Sogomo, Zam Zam Musse and John Shriver
Additional contact information
Matthew O. Jones: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Gleyce Figueiredo: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Stephanie Howson: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Ana Toro: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Soren Rundquist: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Gregory Garner: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Facundo Della Nave: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Grace Delgado: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Zhuang-Fang Yi: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Priscilla Ahn: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Samuel Jonathan Barrett: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Marie Bader: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Derek Rollend: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Thaïs Bendixen: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Jeff Albrecht: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Kangogo Sogomo: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Zam Zam Musse: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA
John Shriver: Regrow Agriculture, Inc., 87 Packers Falls Road, Durham, NH 03824, USA

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-26

Abstract: Satellite remote sensing enables monitoring of regenerative agriculture practices, such as crop rotation, cover cropping, and conservation tillage to allow tracking and quantification at unprecedented scales. The Monitor system presented here capitalizes on the scope and scale of these data by integrating crop identification, cover cropping, and tillage intensity estimations annually at field scales across the contiguous United States (CONUS) from 2014 to 2023. The results provide the first ever mapping of these practices at this temporal fidelity and spatial scale, unlocking valuable insights for sustainable agricultural management. Monitor incorporates three datasets: CropID, a deep learning transformer model using Sentinel-2 and USDA Cropland Data Layer (CDL) data from 2018 to 2023 to predict annual crop types; the living root data, which use Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data to determine cover crop presence through regional parameterization; and residue cover (RC) data, which uses the Normalized Difference Tillage Index (NDTI) and crop residue cover (CRC) index to assess tillage intensity. The system calculates field-scale statistics and integrates these components to compile a comprehensive field management history. Results are validated with 35,184 ground-truth data points from 19 U.S. states, showing an overall accuracy of 80% for crop identification, 78% for cover crop detection, and 63% for tillage intensity. Also, comparisons with USDA NASS Ag Census data indicate that cover crop adoption rates were within 20% of estimates for 90% of states in 2017 and 81% in 2022, while for conventional tillage, 52% and 25% of states were within 20% of estimates, increasing to 75% and 67% for conservation tillage. Monitor provides a comprehensive view of regenerative practices by crop season for all of CONUS across a decade, supporting decision-making for sustainable agricultural management including associated outcomes such as reductions in emissions, long term yield resiliency, and supply chain stability.

Keywords: agricultural monitoring; tillage; cover crops; crop identification; resilient agriculture; sustainability; MRV; satellite remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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