NASA Lands in Nebraska

Nebraska has a touchdown. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Acres Farm Innovation Ambassador Team (FIAT) has landed in west-central Nebraska. FIAT is a national program that works with producers to develop management tools using satellite observations, on-farm data, and digital agriculture technology. Paulman Farms near Sutherland has joined the team and will work with the University of Nebraska’s Digital Farming Lab to connect Nebraska agriculture with the broader, nationwide effort. Gulliermo Balboa, an assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture at the University, said joining the program “creates an important opportunity to connect Nebraska’s field-based work with a national network.”

The FIAT program is part of NASA Acres, an agriculture and food security consortium supported through the agency’s Earth Science Division. The program’s goal is to keep farmers at the center of innovation by connecting producer priorities with NASA-supported science and technology. “FIAT is built around the idea that farmers should help shape the technologies and tools intended to serve them,” said Alyssa Whitcraft, program co-lead and executive director of Acres. Nebraska will contribute field-based experience and applied agronomic expertise to the collaboration. The focus will be on increasing nitrogen use efficiency in corn.

Nebraskans won’t see any rocket launches in Syracuse, splashdowns in Lake McConaughy, or spacewalks at Merritt Reservoir from NASA’s presence in the state. Rather, the space agency will work with Nebraska farmers and the University of Nebraska to spur innovation and use of new agricultural technologies. Not as thrilling as a launch, splashdown, or spacewalk, but exciting for Nebraska agriculture, nonetheless.