The most common question at the NASA booth at Commodity Classic was, “What does NASA do for agriculture?” The answer was perhaps best summed up by Karen St. Germain, Director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, in a Hyperwall talk delivered at the convention. St. Germain laid out how NASA data could strengthen food security, improve agricultural resilience, and help farmers do what they do best: farm.
Commodity Classic 2025, held March 2-4 in Denver, CO, is the largest farmer-led convention in the United States. Over 11,300 people from across North America gathered to discuss tricks of the trade, share innovative technology, and get to know their neighbors. More than 35 scientists and public engagement specialists from NASA attended, including Landsat Next Project Scientist Bruce Cook, Landsat Outreach Specialist Michael Taylor, and Landsat Science Writer Madeleine Gregory.
Farmers and industry specialists chatted with experts from across NASA about agricultural applications of NASA data. One stand-out application was OpenET, an interactive online tool that allows farmers to explore water loss at the level of a single field. OpenET, which is based on Landsat data, tracks evapotranspiration, which is a critical metric for water management. Many attendees were also enthused to hear about the NASA Acres program, which partners which farmers from across the country to tackle the most pressing issues in American agriculture.
Visitors to the NASA booth received a personalized print of their name spelled out in Landsat letters using popular online interaction Your Name in Landsat. The names were printed on 4”x6” glossy photo paper. By the final morning of the conference, word had gotten around that this special keepsake was available, drawing many enthusiastic conferencegoers who wanted to see their name written on the Earth’s surface. By the close of the Trade Show, hundreds of names had been printed.
At NASA’s education table, Michael Taylor offered hands-on practice with the STELLA DIY handheld spectrometer. Taylor aimed STELLA at an array of healthy, stressed, and fake plants, educating attendees on how you could tell the difference based on spectral signature. He explained how vegetation indices like NDVI can quantify vegetation health and density. Then, he connected STELLA’s powers with the work of Landsat, which also collects data in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths.
Farmers shared their biggest concerns with NASA scientists: water scarcity, pests, severe storms, and flooding. In turn, NASA experts provided resources for how to manage these concerns using NASA data. In addition to highlighting existing applications, many of these conversations sparked ideas for future partnerships or collaborations, strengthening the longstanding relationship between NASA Earth Science and America’s agricultural community.
