Satellite monitoring of quantity and quality of available biomass in pastoral livestock systems
Flagship Goal: To develop globally applicable tools which improve management of grassland resources and support local initiatives to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Grasslands, including sown pasture and rangeland, are among the largest ecosystems in the world and are essential for livestock and human welfare. An accurate understanding of the size, distribution, type and quality of grassland regions is critical for monitoring, and mitigating, the GHG emissions from the pastoral livestock systems that reside in them.
Field-based practices for mapping and quantifying grassland properties are labour intensive and time consuming. This leads to data that is often incomplete and out of date. Given the urgent need to reduce GHG emissions, better estimates of grassland region property data which are more automated, accurate and in real-time are vital for informed livestock management decision making.
This Flagship project will bring together a global network of experts to develop tools which utilise satellite monitoring to better inform regionally appropriate, sustainable pastoral livestock system management practices.
Anticipated Outcomes
- Decision support tools that can be tested in many regions, to help improve management of grassland resources, supporting local initiatives to mitigate and adapt to climate change and deliver regionally appropriate sustainable management practices.
- International capacity building outside of the consortium by communicating project data, methodology, tools in refereed publications, conferences, workshops, and training.
Opportunities to get involved
Contact the Project Leader if you would like to explore ways in which you can contribute to this project. Click on the name below to send an email:
Hayden Montgomery (former GRA Special Representative)
Key Partners
FONTAGRO, MPI – NZ, INTA Argentina, FAUBA – Argentina, INIA – Uruguay, Agrosavia – Colombia, INTA – Costa Rica, MAGYP – Argentina, MGAP – Uruguay, AACREA – Argentina, Global Roundtable on Sustainable Beef, Proleche – Costa Rica, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research – New Zealand, Teagasc – Ireland, University of Glasgow – UK, CSIRO – Australia, AAFC-Canada, HBLFA – Austria, University of Life Sciences Vienna – Austria, INRAE – France, James Hutton Institute – UK, SRUC – UK, UNIMI – Italy, KIT – Germany, UNIFI – Italy, CESBIO – France, CIRAD – France, CSE – Senegal, University of Free State – South Africa, Makarere University – Uganda.
Project status: Active