WSU Using “Eyes In The Sky” To Promote Sustainability

Washington State University researchers are using satellites and drones to help local conservation districts monitor areas near rivers and streams to help improve agricultural sustainability. Alex Fremier said the BIOAg program is a bottom-up approach, meaning it encourages local stewardship to improve riparian areas. From there results of those actions can be monitored.

Fremier said thanks to the versatility of cloud computing, BIOAg offers grate potential in the area of management.

“Agricultural management, natural resources management.  And so, we’ve been working with the Palouse Conservation District, and particularly through the VSP, the Voluntary Stewardship Program, to then try to understand how they might use this data in their monitoring.”

Fremier added Google created a platform to access satellite imagery from around the glob, meaning researchers can start to analyze those images in real-time, using computer code. So, where does Fremier see this project and this technology going into the future?

“Monitoring and reporting for natural resources management, environmental monitoring.  As long as these satellites are available, I think it can be used for a really long time to understand both kind of seasonal change, decal change and then even longer.”

To learn more about the BIOAg project, or for our entire conversation with Fremier, check out PNWAg.net

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekmedia.com