Remote sensing –Beyond images Mexico 14-15 December 2013 The workshop was organized by CIMMYT Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), CGIAR Research Program on Maize, the Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and the Sustainable Modernization of the Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro)

1. Welcome to the Remote Sensing –
Beyond Images Workshop
Dr. Thomas Lumpkin
Hotel Sevilla, Mexico City
14th December 2013

2. What makes CIMMYT Unique?
Historical Legacy
Germplasm Bank
World-Class Scientists
and Committed
Personnel
Global Network of Partners
Impact in Farmer’s Field

3. Mission
Sustainably increase the
productivity of maize and wheat
systems for global food security
and poverty reduction

4. CIMMYT Through Time
OSS develops highyield, diseaseresistant, semi-dwarf
wheat and shuttle
breeding
1940s
Norman Borlaug is
awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize
1950s
1970s
The Office of
Special Studies
(OSS) is
created
1960s
The Green Revolution
in India and Pakistan
CIMMYT is officially
founded
CIMMYT scientists
win the World Food
Prize
1980s/1990s
The WellhausenAnderson Plant
Genetic Resources
Center opens
2000s
2010s
MasAgro and
BISA launch

5. CIMMYT Varieties are Grown ALL Over
the World

6. Why CIMMYT?
Climat e
change
Wat er, nut rient &
energy scarcit y
World-wide average yield
(t ons ha-1 )
Diseases
Agronomy Breeding
Year
Projected
demand by
2050 (FAO)
Linear
extrapolations
of current
trends
Potential effect
of climatechange-induced
heat stress on
today’s cultivars
(intermediate
CO2 emission
scenario)

7. Challenges for Smallholder Farmers
Climate change
drought, flooding, extreme events
Biotic stresses
Water & Nutrients
New diseases/insects/
weeds and epidemics
Ground and surface water
fertilizer cost; imbalanced use
Soils
Degraded, eroded, saline
nutrient depletion

8. How Can Remote Sensing Tackle These
Challenges?

9. Application of Remote Sensing
• Pest/disease monitoring
• Plant/soil water & nutrients
• Climate change monitoring
• Phenotyping of genetic resources
• Biomass/yield prediction
• Farmer behavior/efficiency
• Decision Support Systems

10. Airborne Remote Sensing Platform for High
Throughput Phenotyping
• Fast, non-destructive screening over large areas.
• Avoids temporal variation associated with ground based measurements.
• Higher spatial resolution compared with satellite imagery.

11. Phenotyping under Managed Stress Environments is
Key to Successful Product Development
Cornell’s GBS Platform
is an integral part of
CIMMYT’s molecular
breeding efforts.

12. High-throughput Field Phenotyping using
SkyWalker
SkyWalker, a customized UAV
under testing in CIMMYT-Harare
Station
SkyWalker allows (a) thermal and (b) multispectral images to be captured across a
field block within minutes. (Images courtesy: Pablo J. Zarco-Tejada, CSICI)

13. Precision Agriculture and Nitrogen Use

14. Public –Private
Partnerships
Are Key!

15. World Cereal Production–Areas Saved Through Improved
Technology, 1950-2000
1,80
0
Million hectares
1,40
0
CEREAL PRODUCTION
1950
650 million t
2000
1,900 million t
LAND SPARED
1.1 billion ha
1,00
0
600
LAND USED
660 million ha
200
1950
Borlaug, 2004
1960
1970
1980
1990
Source: FAO Production Yearbooks and AGROSTAT
2000

23. THANK YOU!
GRACIAS!