EDF, NASA, DRI and Google design water consumption app for US farmers

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), together with NASA, the Desert Research Institute (DRI), and Google, plan to develop a new web application called OpenET to enable US farmers and water managers to track water consumption by crops and other vegetation by using data from satellites and weather stations. The application will be able to: inform the irrigation management when to water the crops to maximise water efficiency; allow water and land managers to develop accurate water budgets and management programmes; and support groundwater management, water trading, and conservation programmes. Additional collaborators in the project include the Google Earth Engine, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the   United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, the Ca State Monterey Bay University , the University of Idaho, the University of Maryland, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.