Geoglam: An International Program for Coordination of Earth Observations for Global Agricultural Monitoring.

The GEO-Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM) initiative was launched in 2011 by the Group of Twenty (G20) Agriculture Ministers, jointly with the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), in response to growing calls for improved agricultural information to help stabilize markets and better manage global food supply. GEOGLAM built on the activities developed under the GEO Agricultural Monitoring Task, initiated in 2007. The main objective of GEOGLAM is to reinforce the international community's capacity to produce and disseminate relevant, timely, and accurate information on agricultural conditions and production at national, regional, and global scales using Earth Observation data. This information generation and dissemination is achieved by: enhancing national agricultural reporting systems through capacity building that integrates satellite observations with ground-based monitoring systems; establishing an international network of research organizations and practitioners that focuses on agricultural research in support of operational monitoring; harmonizing the global agricultural monitoring system through exchange of information on methods and coordination of satellite observations from diverse sources. Since 2013 through its Crop Monitor, GEOGLAM has been providing AMIS with a monthly synthesis of the conditions of the world’s major crops (wheat, maize, rice, soybeans) in the 27 major producing countries representing over 80% of global production and trade. A number of operational research and development and capacity building efforts are now underway, to enhance the use of earth observations for agricultural monitoring. Recently GEOGLAM has been exploring ways to collaborate with AgMIP to explore the use of combining satellite and weather-based models for within season forecasting of crop production.