Decisions regarding the implementation of conservation and soil health practices in agricultural areas can have a significant effect on productivity and environmental outcomes, including soil erosion,…

Decisions regarding the implementation of conservation and soil health practices in agricultural areas can have a significant effect on productivity and environmental outcomes, including soil erosion, water quality, and carbon sequestration. In addition, the effects of management can vary due to soil type and topographic conditions. While dagan's optis system produces wide area maps of the presence of cover crops, there is currently no systematic and cost-effective method for documenting winter cover crop quality, or the resulting effects of these cover crops, over a large region. During phase i activities, we demonstrated the feasibility of using multi-sensor satellite observations and biogeochemical modeling for operational cover crop monitoring that will systematically provide detailed information about the spatial and temporal dynamics of cover crop adoption and vigor. In phase II, we propose to operationalize these algorithms to facilitate deployment of the system over wide areas, back through time. This monitoring system will be tied to our existing operational tillage information system (optis) to provide the enhanced, detailed information that our data service clients require for sustainability reporting, ecosystem service market participation, and scenario planning.under phase II activities our goal is to bring the research demonstrated under phase i activities into a fully functional and largely automated prototype system and evaluate the products in four demonstration regions. This goal will be accomplished through five technical objectives. This project targets five primary decision-makers as users of a cover crop information system: AG non-profit organizations (e.g. the nature conservancy), the developing ecosystem service markets (e.g. esmc), watershed- and state-level water quality programs, the US dept. Of agriculture nrcs and national agriculture statistics service [nass], and private corporations (e.g. general mills and bayer). Each of these organizations need accurate, timely, and spatially comprehensive information about the dynamic state of cover crops across large regions.