RM-1 Agriculture – Crop Quality

Description

Develop technology to identify and remotely measure the quality of agricultural crops. Crop quality is defined as the amino acid composition of protein and oil (i.e. the levels of phytic acid, linolenic acid, oleic acid, etc.).

Rationale

The quality of many crops is sensitive to the timing and application of water, fertilizer or other chemicals. Knowing the proper harvest time is critical to crop value. The ability to remotely sense changes in plants for management decisions is of extreme importance to producers. This is especially true if crops are produced under contract for a specialty market where price is dependent on meeting specific quality targets.

• Probable Partners
  o Producers, commodity groups, land grant universities (state agricultural experiment stations and Cooperative Extension Service, agriculture chemical companies, USDA (CSREES, ARS, NRCS), food processors and equipment manufacturers.
  

• Potential Benefit and Payoff
  o Producers will be better able to capture value added markets and preserve a competitive position against imports
  o Billions of dollars per year in increased crop value can be realized from the producer to the end-user
  o Reduced cost of fertilizer, insecticides, or other chemicals and potential environmental improvements from more restricted applications
  o Increased net farm income requiring less government outlays
  

• Legislative mandates / regulatory mandates / directives to which the proposed application responds or complements
  o Food Quality Protection Act requirements for residue levels of chemicals
  o Nutrient management plans to reduce environmental impact
  

• Other Supporting Data
  o To Be Determined
  

Relationship to Existing Science Programs and Initiatives

• Ag 2020
  
• United Soybean Board Better Bean Initiative
  
• Cotton Inc.
  
• Illinois First
  
• Illinois C-FAR
  
• USDA NRI
  
• National Corn Growers Initiative
  
• National Association of Wheat Growers
  
• Soybean Research and Development Council Variety Improvement Project
  

Recommended Partnership Vehicle

• To Be Determined
  

Additional studies or surveys needed to establish the status of this application

• To Be Determined
  

Additional research needed to establish viability of application

• More research is needed on ground-based sensors to correlate spectral changes with quality measurements.
  

Alignment of proposed application with Evaluation Criteria

• National Importance
  o This is essential to the future viability and global competitiveness of U.S. agriculture. U.S. producers retain a competitive advantage in their ability to increase the quality and value of their crops. This application will help them to retain market share.
  

• Pervasiveness
  o This problem applies to crops across the country.
  

• Uniqueness of NASA Contribution
  o NASA has access to the scientific base to develop sensors related technology needed for crop quality issues.
  

• Potential Partnership Benefit
  o Producers will be capable of providing tailored and uniform commodities to processors.
  

• Cost / Benefit
  o This technology will increase efficiency of input use by producers, decrease processing costs and increase quality at each level.
  

• Capability of Documenting Results
  o The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS), Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) and other government agencies monitor the changes in crop quality and the development of measurements and standards in this technology.
  

• Potential Commercial Impact
  o Producers will be motivated by the desire to retain marketshare against competing domestic and foreign crops and to enter into quality specific production contracts with processors and food manufacturers, as well as other economic factors to adopt this technology.
  

• Other Criteria
  o To Be Determined