Many new satellites in Earth’s orbit are equipped with advanced tools to enhance global food security and strengthen agrifood systems. A new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) explores how space technology intersects with agriculture, forestry, land-use management, climate monitoring, and environmental trends.
“Space technology has emerged as a game changer. Satellite imagery, global navigation satellite systems data, and their integrated applications are now critical tools for agriculture,” state Lifeng LI, Director of FAO’s Land and Water Division, and UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini in their introduction to “Leverage Space Technology for Agricultural Development and Food Security.”
The use of geospatial technologies dates back to 1957. Since then, over 17,000 satellites have been launched, with nearly 3,000 added annually. Advances in satellite precision, coupled with cloud-based applications, have made detailed Earth data more accessible, even to farmers via smartphones.
The report highlights the need to bridge the gap between space and agriculture, addressing technical interoperability, data harmonization, and capacity development. It stresses international collaboration to ensure small-scale farmers and developing countries benefit from satellite data.
Key recommendations include:
- Strengthening global capacities for using satellite data in agriculture.
- Increasing international coordination on agriculture-focused satellite missions.
- Enhancing accessibility and interoperability between space data and services.
- Establishing a centralized UN imagery procurement hub to reduce duplication and improve synergies.
The report also emphasizes the importance of mitigating space debris risks that could threaten satellite operations and future missions.
FAO’s Geospatial Contributions
FAO has developed several innovative tools leveraging satellite technology:
- Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform: Integrates over two million layers of open-access geospatial and agricultural statistics data.
- SEPAL: A forest cover monitoring tool that detects landscape changes in real-time using Google Earth Engine and satellite services from FAO member countries.
- WaPOR: Tracks actual water consumption in crop fields with high precision, helping farmers optimize resource use.
These tools directly support farmers by aiding emergency response efforts, pest control, soil fertility management, water stress assessments, and precision agriculture.
Multistakeholder Partnerships
The report underscores the need for partnerships to maximize space technology’s potential in agriculture. It highlights FAO’s Agro-Informatics initiatives, such as a rapid crop-mapping effort in Togo during the COVID-19 pandemic, which involved NASA Harvest, Planet Labs, and the University of Maryland. This initiative enabled swift government interventions to stabilize agrifood systems.
Addressing the space-agriculture value chain, the report advocates for ensuring developing countries have access to spatial infrastructure, standardizing data collection and methodologies, and preventing gaps in remote-sensing data coverage.
UNOOSA supports UN Member States in establishing legal and regulatory frameworks for space activities, while FAO collaborates with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to develop a standardized meta-language for land cover and land use. These efforts aim to enhance data harmonization, integration, and interoperability, enabling widespread benefits through cloud computing platforms like SEPAL and farmer-driven field observations for improved policymaking.
By fostering international collaboration and technological innovation, space technology can revolutionize agriculture, ensuring global food security and sustainable agrifood systems for the future.