Welcome to the Remote Sensing – Beyond Images Workshop

Dr. Thomas LumpkinHotel Sevilla, Mexico City14th December 2013

What makes CIMMYT Unique?

Historical Legacy

Impact in Farmer’s Field

Germplasm Bank

Global Network of Partners

World-Class Scientists and Committed

Personnel

Mission Sustainably increase the

productivity of maize and wheat systems for global food security

and poverty reduction

1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s/1990s 2000s 2010s

The Office of Special Studies (OSS) is created

OSS develops high-yield, disease-resistant, semi-dwarf wheat and

shuttle breeding

CIMMYT scientists win the World Food

Prize

MasAgro and BISA launch

The Wellhausen-Anderson Plant

Genetic Resources Center opens

The Green Revolution in India and Pakistan

CIMMYT is officially founded

Norman Borlaug is awarded the Nobel

Peace Prize

CIMMYT Through Time

CIMMYT Varieties are Grown ALL Over the World

Diseases

Climate change

BreedingAgronomy

Projected demand by 2050 (FAO)

Worl

d-w

ide

aver

age

yiel

d

(tons

ha-

1)

Linear extrapolations of current trends

Water, nutrient & energy scarcity

Potential effect of climate-change-induced heat stress on today’s cultivars (intermediate CO2 emission scenario)

Year

Why CIMMYT?

Challenges for Smallholder Farmers

Biotic stressesNew diseases/insects/ weeds and epidemics

SoilsDegraded, eroded, saline

nutrient depletion

Water & NutrientsGround and surface waterfertilizer cost; imbalanced use

Climate changedrought, flooding, extreme events

How Can Remote Sensing Tackle These Challenges?

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

Application of Remote Sensing

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.

Phenotyping under Managed Stress Environments is Key to Successful Product Development

Cornell’s GBS Platform is an integral part ofCIMMYT’s molecularbreeding efforts.

High-throughput Field Phenotyping using SkyWalker

SkyWalker allows (a) thermal and (b) multispectral images to be captured across a field block within minutes. (Images courtesy: Pablo J. Zarco-Tejada, CSICI)

SkyWalker, a customized UAV under testing in CIMMYT-Harare Station

Precision Agriculture and Nitrogen Use

Public –Private Partner

ships

Are Key!

World Cereal Production–Areas Saved Through Improved Technology, 1950-2000

CEREAL PRODUCTION1950 650 million t 2000 1,900 million t

1,800

1,400

1,000

600

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

LAND SPARED1.1 billion ha

LAND USED 660 million ha

Milli

on h

ecta

res

200

Source: FAO Production Yearbooks and AGROSTATBorlaug, 2004

THANK YOU!GRACIAS!