Landsat's Role in Agriculture and Food Security
Worldwide, millions of people are helped by Landsat-data-based decisions that impact food and water management. Food and farming organizations rely on the unbiased, accurate and timely information provided by Landsat satellites. The data enable people to analyze the health and vigor of crops as they mature over the growing season; the needs of specific fields for fertilizer, irrigation and rotation; planted acreage to forecast crop production and fight crop insurance fraud; how much water is used in irrigation; and the impacts of drought.
![A photo of a young girl standing in a field at dusk in front of a mountain range. She is holding a clear glass bottle filled with fireflies that extend out into the night sky creating a constellation of stars. A photo of a young girl standing in a field at dusk in front of a mountain range. She is holding a clear glass bottle filled with fireflies that extend out into the night sky creating a constellation of stars.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TOPS-Girl_fireflies.png)
Join the Pale Blue Dot Visualization Challenge and Be Part of a Brighter Future
The Pale Blue Dot Visualization Challenge—aimed at making Earth observation data accessible to everyone—has officially kicked off.
![The Landsat 9 satellite in the foreground, with the upper half of Earth in the background.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AboveBelow_Thumb_print.jpg)
Above the Earth, Below the Surface: Landsat’s Role in Monitoring Water Quality
Safeguarding freshwater resources is crucial, and while scientists use a variety of ground-based techniques to gauge water quality, the Landsat program has provided water quality data from orbit for decades.
![A map showing a region in Bangladesh where over-irrigation has likely occurred in the two weeks prior to June 4, 2023. Those areas appear in red.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IRASmap.png)
Satellite Data Helps Bangladeshi Farmers Save Water, Money, Energy
Satellite data are providing information to Bangladeshi farmers about how much water they are using, how much they have, and how much their crops need.
![Map of northern New Mexico showing a large burn scar.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/TerraPulse_screenshot.jpg)
Taking the Pulse of Earth
Applying AI to Earth data—including Landsat—helps terraPulse reveal sustainable options for farming, reforestation, and land management.
![Dr. Robert Washington-Allen](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/RobertWA-LA-CMth.jpg)
Robert Washington-Allen and the Next Frontier of Dryland Research
Washington-Allen is a longtime Landsat data user working towards drylands restoration and sustainability solutions.
![Agriculture](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Agriculture-Landscape-2000x1573.jpg)
NASA Harvest Video Celebrates 50 Years of Landsat
NASA Harvest gathered agricultural remote sensing experts to discuss how Landsat fundamentally transformed agricultural monitoring over the last half century.