A comparison of global agricultural monitoring systems and current gaps

Steffen Fritz, Linda See, Juan Carlos Laso Bayas, François Waldner, Damien Jacques, Inbal Becker-Reshef, Alyssa Whitcraft, Bettina Baruth, Rogerio Bonifacio, Jim Crutchfield, Felix Rembold, Oscar Rojas, Anne Schucknecht, Marijn Van der Velde, James Verdin, Bingfang Wu, Nana Yan, Liangzhi You, Sven Gilliams, Sander Mücher, Robert Tetrault, Inian Moorthy and Ian McCallum

Agricultural Systems, 2019, vol. 168, issue C, 258-272

Abstract: Global and regional scale agricultural monitoring systems aim to provide up-to-date information regarding food production to different actors and decision makers in support of global and national food security. To help reduce price volatility of the kind experienced between 2007 and 2011, a global system of agricultural monitoring systems is needed to ensure the coordinated flow of information in a timely manner for early warning purposes. A number of systems now exist that fill this role. This paper provides an overview of the eight main global and regional scale agricultural monitoring systems currently in operation and compares them based on the input data and models used, the outputs produced and other characteristics such as the role of the analyst, their interaction with other systems and the geographical scale at which they operate. Despite improvements in access to high resolution satellite imagery over the last decade and the use of numerous remote-sensing based products by the different systems, there are still fundamental gaps. Based on a questionnaire, discussions with the system experts and the literature, we present the main gaps in the data and in the methods. Finally, we propose some recommendations for addressing these gaps through ongoing improvements in remote sensing, harnessing new and innovative data streams and the continued sharing of more and more data.

Keywords: Global agricultural monitoring; Earth observation; Gaps; Spatial resolution; In-situ data; Crop calendars; Yield; Crop production; Crop area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X17312027
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:168:y:2019:i:c:p:258-272

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2018.05.010

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Systems is currently edited by J.W. Hansen, P.K. Thornton and P.B.M. Berentsen

More articles in Agricultural Systems from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().