Agricultural Geography

Crop circles as seen from space in Sharq El Owainat, Egypt. Image: NASA.

Types of Agricultural Patterns Visible from Space

September 2, 2021July 25, 2021 by Elizabeth Borneman

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are helping to document irrigation practices around the world and determine their effectiveness.

Von Thünen Model of Agricultural Land Use

July 25, 2021December 16, 2020 by Mark Altaweel

German geographer Johann Heinrich von Thünen created one of the first geographical models related to agricultural land use.

An agriculture field in California. Photo: U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain

Geospatial Technology and Challenges of Contemporary Agriculture

December 6, 2020 by Mark Altaweel

Farmers have greater access to geospatial tools that can help mitigate some agricultural challenges.

Dark green lines form the forested windbreaks in Hokkaido, Japan. Image: NASA.

A View of Hokkaido’s Lattice Windbreaks From Space

October 18, 2020May 7, 2020 by Caitlin Dempsey

The landscape of the Konsen Plateau viewed from above looks like a lattice with crisscrossing lines of narrow strips of forest.

Three moments in a tumultuous year for farming north of St. Louis, MO, as seen in NASA-USGS Landsat 8 data. On the left is May 7, 2019, as heavy rains delayed planting for many farms. Sept 12, 2019, in the middle, shows bright green signifying growing vegetation, although with a fair amount of brown, bare fields. On the right, Oct. 14, 2019, the light brown indicates harvested fields while darker brown are fields that have not been seeded or fallow all summer. Credits: NASA

Monitoring Crop Production Via Satellite

December 6, 2020December 28, 2019 by Elizabeth Borneman

To cope with ever-changing agricultural needs and conditions, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (or NASS) uses data from Landsat to monitor crops in the contiguous United States.

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