CIVIC-PG Track A: Integrating remote sensing data, analytics, and carbon credits to develop pathways for environmental and economic sustainability in drought-stressed communities

Small family farms are among the most vulnerable to climate risks in the US and worldwide. Many of these stressed farming communities are experiencing freshwater and precipitation shortages, which limit their adaptation capability environmentally and economically. Advances in data and analytics technologies provide potential solutions to those at-risk communities, but a significant gap exists between technology possibilities and community outcomes. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of investigators to close the gap. The investigators are integrating recent developments in remote sensing, data analytics, and carbon credit market design to test land transition pathways and decision support tools for drought-stressed farming communities to shift from irrigated cropland to sustainable rangelands. The project also brings novel production system designs and technologies into farming practices that can inspire younger generations and strengthen the workforce pipeline for US agriculture. The project team is developing solutions with local farm communities in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, to adapt to a growing drought risk. As the groundwater level continues to decline in the region, farming communities are forced to transition from irrigated land to dryland farming or rangelands, often without proper land management, causing significant wind erosion of topsoil. This project leverages high-resolution remote sensing data and data analytics to test scenarios whereby farmers and ranchers can earn stackable carbon credits to diversify farm income while conserving freshwater resources. Doing so could help alleviate the environmental problem and build rural economic resilience. In the planning stage, the project team is identifying community-centered pathways for land transition and prototyping data-driven mobile decision support apps for managing the transition. The vision of the pilot project is that it will test a data-driven decision support tool for local community members to manage the transition to sustainable land use and an action plan to adapt the tool for broader community adoption. This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program’s Track A. Climate and Environmental Instability - Building Resilient Communities through Co-Design, Adaption, and Mitigation and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.