A couple of-third of the world’s corn is grown in america, and the most important share of it comes from a swath of land throughout the Midwest. On October 18, 2021, NASA’s Terra satellite tv for pc acquired this unusually cloud-free view of that area simply because the corn harvest was nearing its finish, the stalks from most crops had turned yellow and brown, and a few naked soil was seen once more.
In keeping with the U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA), corn is grown in most states, however the highest focus of cropland dedicated to this coarse grain is discovered throughout the “Midwest Corn Belt.” Collectively Iowa and Illinois develop and harvest about one-third of your complete U.S. crop, and every state alone produces extra corn than many international locations.
The natural-color picture above was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra. The map under reveals lands that have been planted with corn in 2020 (marked in yellow). The map was constructed from the Cropland Information Layer product supplied by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, which incorporates information from the USGS National Land Cover Database and from satellites equivalent to Landsat 8, ResourceSat-2, and Sentinel-2.
In its October 2021 report, USDA famous that corn manufacturing was up 3 p.c this yr, with an estimated 15 billion bushels of corn harvested from 93.3 million planted acres. Report-high yields have been reported in ten states, together with Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio (all proven above).
That huge corn provide has three main makes use of. About one-third is used to feed livestock both straight or via animal feed merchandise. (Corn gives the carbohydrates whereas soy gives the protein.) One other third finally ends up as ethanol, a gasoline additive to gasoline. The remainder of the corn crop is consumed in meals and drinks by individuals within the U.S. and overseas. The most important importers of U.S. corn embody Mexico, South Korea, Japan, and Colombia.
In a brand new NASA-led study launched on November 1, 2021, scientists estimated that world yields of corn (maize) and wheat may very well be affected by local weather change as quickly as 2030. Over the following century, maize yields may decline as a lot as 24 p.c in some areas resulting from rising temperatures, altering rising seasons, growing atmospheric carbon dioxide ranges, and extra erratic rainfall.
Different NASA-funded scientists are utilizing satellites to review soil loss over time and to develop instruments to assist farmers as they undertake conservation strategies. In keeping with some estimates, america loses about 5 tons of soil per acre every year, practically 10 occasions the speed at which it types. Researchers lately used machine studying and information from Landsat, Terra and Aqua MODIS, and ESA’s Sentinel-1 to indicate how conservation tillage may have an effect on yields throughout the Corn Belt. They discovered that long-term, low-till corn fields truly skilled a median yield enhance of three.3 p.c in comparison with extra conventional tilling.
NASA Earth Observatory photos by Lauren Dauphin, utilizing MODIS information from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview and Cropland information from USDA NASS. Story by Michael Carlowicz.
