Crop Monitor
- Creators
- CropMonitor team
- GEOGLAM
Description
The GEOGLAM Crop Monitor initiative was developed under the framework of the 2011 G20 Action Plan on Food Price Volatility in Agriculture in response to the need for timely science-driven information on global crop conditions that would strengthen existing monitoring systems and provide early warning of potential production shortfalls. The main objective of the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor initiative is to reduce uncertainty in global food markets and fill gaps related to agricultural production and food security by providing a monthly consensus on global crop conditions in collaboration with more than 40 partners from national, regional, and global monitoring systems, space agencies, agricultural organizations, and universities.
GEOGLAM Crop Monitor Reports
To disseminate this information to stakeholders, three separate reports are published on a monthly basis. Each report uses a combination of earth observation data together with meteorological information, field observations, and ground reports to fill information gaps related to food security at the global scale.
- In 2013, the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor monthly bulletin for the G20 Agricultural Market Information System (CM4AMIS) was launched to provide crop condition information for the major global producers and exporters, focusing on the four primary global commodity crops (wheat, maize, rice, soybean). This information is imperative for governments and other decision-making agencies as a potential decrease in production can have global consequences on both price and availability of a major food source.
- In 2016, the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor for Early Warning (CM4EW) was established to address the pressing need for enhanced reliability and trusted information regarding countries at risk of production shortfalls and food insecurity, focusing on their most important staple crops. This information gives critical support to humanitarian efforts and food security policies and is frequently used to determine how food aid and assistance are distributed.
- In 2022, the Global Crop Monitor was launched to provide a global overview of crop conditions, combining the inputs from the CM4AMIS and CM4EW in a single report.
Supplemental Reports
In addition to monthly Crop Monitor reports, in-depth mid-month Special Reports are published on an ad hoc basis by the Crop Monitor community in response to developing situations that may impact crop conditions, rapidly changing conditions on the ground, or new climatic outlooks that provide key insight on an upcoming cropping season.
Furthermore, as part of the CM4EW reporting, conflict is a driver of other-than-favourable crop conditions when armed conflict or civil unrest inhibits field access or interferes with agricultural activities such as planting, working, and harvesting of the fields by farmers. The Crop Monitor Food Security and Conflict Reports were developed in 2020 to provide further insight into each region's specific conflict situation by detailing the history of the current conflict, the agricultural baseline, and specific impacts of conflict on agricultural production and food security.
Finally, specialized versions of the Crop Monitor have been jointly developed with national and regional agencies in charge of food security and emergency response. These reports allow for more detailed, localized crop condition assessments to aid smaller-scale agricultural monitoring.
Tools and Resources
The Crop Monitor initiative in partnership with NASA Harvest has developed a variety of user applications to support the dissemination of Crop Monitor monthly assessments and to facilitate in-season monitoring of Crop Monitor countries of interest. These currently include the following:
- The Agrometeorological (AGMET) Earth Observation (EO) Indicators tool brings together a variety of EO data products on the sub-national scale, each of which provides valuable insights into in-season crop development and current crop conditions.
- The CM Dashboard provides an interactive global visualization of the most current in-season crop conditions and is hosted on the SDG Today website under the Zero Hunger initiative.
Visit the Crop Monitor website for more information about the reports and resources, and visit the Crop Monitor and supplemental report archive for access to all published reports.
Publications