The objectives of this project are to: enhance national and regional capacity to monitor food supply using Earth observations; empower science-based decision making related to food security & agriculture; increase regional collaboration and cooperation around agriculture monitoring; create a sustainable model for within-region collaboration; and guide future within-region capacity development activities related to EO. These objectives are being achieved principally through the Agricultural Monitoring in the Americas Working Group (AMA).

AMA is the convening body of GEOGLAM Latinoamérica (G-LA) and the AmeriGEO Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture sister initiatives. Both initiatives focus on strengthening national systems’ monitoring capabilities through Earth observations (EO) as well as on fostering with-in-region international collaboration around research and development and operational implementation of monitoring tools for the main crop types and rangeland/pasture areas in the Americas. Through facilitating contact and coordination between researchers and decision-makers at the ministerial level, we can best leverage EO data to confront challenges around food production, food security, climate change, and sustainable development.

One of the major components of this project is the deployment of the new cloud-based Global Agricultural Monitoring (GLAM) System tailored specifically for AMA-partner needs. Thus far, INTA-Argentina, Bolsa de Cereales Argentina, and Conab-Brasil have fully operational national-tailored GLAM systems, which are used for routine monitoring of crop conditions using pre-processed, consistent time series of satellite data. We are expanding this work with other within-region partners, bringing Analysis Ready Data (ARD) systems, workflows, and related training to help AMA partners reach their food security and sustainable agriculture goals using remote sensing technologies.