Progress 06/15/19 to 02/14/20

Outputs
Target Audience: During our 2019 program we performed initial market research to help shape our focus for commercialization. Through this effort, we contacted numerous agricultural entities: Crop Insurance Companies - We contacted, traveled to and met with two crop insurance providers and began work under NDA during the 2019 USDA SBIR Phase I effort. Once is actively cooperating. Farmers - We contacted and inteviewed 19 farmers either on the phone or in person. Crop Insurance Agents - We contacted, spoke with and presented to 7 t crop insurance agents. Agribusinesses - We contacted three large agribusinesses. We visited with two and made presentations. Further contact is pending their 2020 programs. Agronomists - We contacted and interviewed 4 agronomists. We are in discussions with Dr. Yanbo Huang at the USDA ARS Station in Stoneville, MS for cooperation in a study for mapping the effects of Dicamba drift. This is a continuation of 2019 where we were used a processing method for satellite data we called CropScout. We are in discussion with the South Dakota USDA NRCS office for a contract to map and measure the area affected by rising water table and soil sodicity using fall Landsat data from 1985 to 2019; 34 years. Rising water tables are a serious problem for our farming covering tens of millions of acre in South Dakota and neighboring states. Mapping these areas is the first step in modeling causal factors toward evaluating steps to reverse what appears to be a 50-year trend of rising watertables. We are actively working to R&D multiple image-based products in cooperation with a crop insurerand provider. This work includes completing PPB for operational application, and R&D to develop alpha test versions of several other applications. Changes/Problems: The major challenge to our 2019 SBIR Phase I program was the record impact from prevented planting across our region. Despite the potential use of our application that would have made their lives easier and have saved them millions of dollars, they decided not to apply tthe PPB application, instead focusing on their current methods and charging forward. We regrouped and were able to perform a retrospective analysis of the PPB app, finding it to perform as desired. We will be working to commercialize this app during 2020 What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The staff that worked on this project has mastered R&D and programming methods and have coalesced into a potent team. The fact that we are inventing, testing and developing methods is an exciting oppertunity for professional development of our staff members. Three of our staff worked on this project provisionally as paid interns, now full time staff. We expanded our USDA budget with State of South Dakota grants to help support their professional development and extend the SBIR Phase I impact. We are about to hire the first of two interns that will work with us during 2020. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Our work has been reported in the South Dakota Corn Growers Association newletter to their farmers. We have also been interviewed by the Sioux Falls TV station and NPR station and reported in the SD Chamber of Commerce news and in the Argus Leader Sioux Falls Newspaper. The USDA NIFA SBIR Phase I funding that supports this program was mentioned in each. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to write and submit a Phase II proposal by the February 28 deadline and during the interim, continue as we can, to R&D our digital spatial products and prepare these applications for commercial launch.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Our telephone and in-person interviews with farmers identified the importance of their crop insurance agents - they are trusted members of each farmers team. Hence, farming and crop insurance-related products must pass muster with agents because they control farmer buying habits. Our test applications of two applications we developed CropScout, that uses highly-processed satellite imagery to identify areas of fields that are doing poorly and the Spatial Crop-loss Adjusting Tool (SCAT) that is useful for determining impacts on fields. Both applications functioned well. We tested CropScout for its ability to identify drift impacts on a preliminary analysis of portions of the Stoneville Mississippi USDA ARS farm. We are continuing this work and seeking a CRADA to enhance the cooperation. We have outreached to another ARS station for cooperation to identify patches of disease and insect infestations using CropScout. Spatial Crop-loss Adjusting Tool (SCAT) was used to extrapolate corn greensnap impacts from agronomist plot measurements taken in an affected field. This identified that 192 of 457 acres were impacted. The report we generated was used by the farmer as the basis for replacement volume of seed from the seed company. SCAT has planned variants for hail, hurrican and drought. We developed Prevented Planting Bypass (PPB) to assist crop insurers to more easily meet the overwhelming claim load that occurred during 2019 record conditions for losses. During the first half of our SBIR Phase I program we prepared to assist our cooperating crop insurer to adjust tens of thousands of claims across a 135,000 square mile region. Unfortunately, they declined to use the application even though it had the potential to save them millions of dollars in labor and support for loss adjusting. Chasing this opportunity however, required our complete focus for much of the Phase I effort. Our PPB focus was a trade-off for the focus group of farmers that was to be hosted through a large regional crop insurance agency. Idling the farmers but causing the agency to work through the summer coordinating loss adjusting visits and administering prevented planting claims. During the second half of the Phase I project we signed an NDA with another crop insurance provider. They provided records of their claims and policies across Illinois and Iowa that enabled a retrospective analysis of approximately 1284 claims across 3374 policies. PPB provided documentation that all claims were correct and the output from the program indicated that only a handful of claims (~1%) would have needed to be visited for verification. We ended the project preparing a report for the crop insurer and for presentation to the RMA and concentrated on completing programming for PPB to prepare for operational application during 2020 across a 9-state region of the northern Midwest. This are is forecasted in 2020 to again be wetter than normal and large numbers of claims are expected again. We regard this PPB as a great success because it promises robust and accurate loss adjustment of most prevented planting loss claims from the office rather requiring expensive field visits. At the time that this report is written, we are working to set up meetings with our cooperating crop insurer and the USDA RMA for their approval to use this tool during 2020.

Publications

Progress 06/15/19 to 02/14/20

Outputs
Target Audience: Crop Insurance Companies - We contacted, traveled to and met with two crop insurance providers and both agreed to work with Advanced Remote Sensing, Inc. (ARSI) during the 2019 USDA SBIR Phase I effort. Non-disclosure agreements were signed to get started with our work. Farmers - We contacted and inteviewed 19 farmers either on the phone or in person. Crop Insurance Agents - We contacted, spoke with and hosted meetings with 7 crop insurance agents. Agribusinesses - We contacted three large agribusinesses. We visited with two of these and made presentations. Further contact is pending their 2020 programs. Agronomists - We contacted and interviewed 4 agronomists. Changes/Problems: The major challenge to our 2019 SBIR Phase I program was the record impact from prevented planting across our region. Despite the potential use of our application that would have made their lives easier and have saved them millions of dollars, they decided not to apply tthe PPB application, instead focusing on their current methods and charging forward. We'll regroup once we are able to perform a retrospecitve analysis and get them on board for the 2020 season. The focus on PPB was a calculated risk that hasn't borne fruit yet, however, 2019 enabled us to learn valuable information about the market and to validate a series of EOS image-based software applications. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The staff that worked on this project are mastering R&D and programming methods. We are coalescing into a potent team. The fact that we are inventing, testing and developing methods is an exciting oppertunity for professional development of our staff members. Three of our staff worked on this project provisionally as paid interns and we expanded our USDA budget with State of South Dakota grants to help support their professional development and extend the SBIR Phase I impact. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Because our crop insurer cooperator balked when it was time to use our PPB app that would have saved them millions of dollars, we have begun communication with a second crop insurer. We will complete our Phase I project through additional programing of PPB software so that it becomes quasi-operational. With the 2019 prevented planting data from this second crop insurance cooperator (claims and policies across two impacted two states, we will perform a retrospective analysis of how PPB will work. 2020 is forecasted to be wetter than normal across a 9-state region of the northern Midwest and so, PPB may see potential application across this region.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Our telephone and in-person interviews with farmers identified the importance of their crop insurance agents - they are trusted members of each farmers team. Hence, farming and crop insurance-related products must pass muster with agents because they control farmer buying habits. Our test applications of CropScout and the Spatial Crop-loss Adjusting Tool (SCAT) gave positive results but need further testing and development. We developed Prevented Planting Bypass (PPB) to assist crop insurers to more easily meet the overwhelming claim load. We prepared to assist our cooperating crop insurer to adjsut tens of thousands of claims across a 135,000 square mile region. Chasing this opportunity took nearly all our focus during the first months of our Phase I effort. We regard this work as a success because it promises to be a robust and accurate method to perform prevented planting loss adjustment from the office rather than commit to an expensive field visit. We are eager to obtain data from 2019 to test the validity of PPB and believe it will be a game changer for the industry through increasing efficiency, controlling costs and especially through getting farmers their indemnity payments early so they can repay their seasonal loans and save debt service costs. In addition to our directly ag-related efforts funded by USDA, we also worked on an allied SBIR Phase I project funded by NSF to develop "A novel method to correct atmospheric noise in Earth observation satellite (EOS) data". Because EOS look through an atmosphere with aerosol content that changes daily, and because the deleterious effect of the atmosphere on vegetation indices is data is synergistic, correction methods are needed before imagery can be used reliably for many agricultural applications. Fortunately the NSF program is bearing fruit in the form of a simple correction that will be applicable for all EOS platforms including cubesats that are the wave of the future for ag use because they offer daily repeatsover all fields to overcome . In an anticipated USDA Phase II, we will propose how we plan to use the corrected data for R&D and commercialization for the benefit of farming and crop insurance.

Publications

Progress 06/15/19 to 01/10/20

Outputs
Target Audience: During our 2019 program we performed initial market research to help shape our focus for commercialization. Through this effort, we contacted numerous agricultural entities: Crop Insurance Companies - We contacted, traveled to and met with two crop insurance providers and began work under NDA during the 2019 USDA SBIR Phase I effort. Once is actively cooperating. Farmers - We contacted and inteviewed 19 farmers either on the phone or in person. Crop Insurance Agents - We contacted, spoke with and presented to 7 t crop insurance agents. Agribusinesses - We contacted three large agribusinesses. We visited with two and made presentations. Further contact is pending their 2020 programs. Agronomists - We contacted and interviewed 4 agronomists. We are in discussions with Dr. Yanbo Huang at the USDA ARS Station in Stoneville, MS for cooperation in a study for mapping the effects of Dicamba drift. This is a continuation of 2019 where we were used a processing method for satellite data we called CropScout. We are in discussion with the South Dakota USDA NRCS office for a contract to map and measure the area affected by rising water table and soil sodicity using fall Landsat data from 1985 to 2019; 34 years. Rising water tables are a serious problem for our farming covering tens of millions of acre in South Dakota and neighboring states. Mapping these areas is the first step in modeling causal factors toward evaluating steps to reverse what appears to be a 50-year trend of rising watertables. We are actively working to R&D multiple image-based products in cooperation with a crop insurerand provider. This work includes completing PPB for operational application, and R&D to develop alpha test versions of several other applications. Changes/Problems: The major challenge to our 2019 SBIR Phase I program was the record impact from prevented planting across our region. Despite the potential use of our application that would have made their lives easier and have saved them millions of dollars, they decided not to apply tthe PPB application, instead focusing on their current methods and charging forward. We regrouped and were able to perform a retrospective analysis of the PPB app, finding it to perform as desired. We will be working to commercialize this app during 2020 What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The staff that worked on this project has mastered R&D and programming methods and have coalesced into a potent team. The fact that we are inventing, testing and developing methods is an exciting oppertunity for professional development of our staff members. Three of our staff worked on this project provisionally as paid interns, now full time staff. We expanded our USDA budget with State of South Dakota grants to help support their professional development and extend the SBIR Phase I impact. We are about to hire the first of two interns that will work with us during 2020. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Our work has been reported in the South Dakota Corn Growers Association newletter to their farmers. We have also been interviewed by the Sioux Falls TV station and NPR station and reported in the SD Chamber of Commerce news and in the Argus Leader Sioux Falls Newspaper. The USDA NIFA SBIR Phase I funding that supports this program was mentioned in each. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to write and submit a Phase II proposal by the February 28 deadline and during the interim, continue as we can, to R&D our digital spatial products and prepare these applications for commercial launch.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Our telephone and in-person interviews with farmers identified the importance of their crop insurance agents - they are trusted members of each farmers team. Hence, farming and crop insurance-related products must pass muster with agents because they control farmer buying habits. Our test applications of two applications we developed CropScout, that uses highly-processed satellite imagery to identify areas of fields that are doing poorly and the Spatial Crop-loss Adjusting Tool (SCAT) that is useful for determining impacts on fields. Both applications functioned well. We tested CropScout for its ability to identify drift impacts on a preliminary analysis of portions of the Stoneville Mississippi USDA ARS farm. We are continuing this work and seeking a CRADA to enhance the cooperation. We have outreached to another ARS station for cooperation to identify patches of disease and insect infestations using CropScout. Spatial Crop-loss Adjusting Tool (SCAT) was used to extrapolate corn greensnap impacts from agronomist plot measurements taken in an affected field. This identified that 192 of 457 acres were impacted. The report we generated was used by the farmer as the basis for replacement volume of seed from the seed company. SCAT has planned variants for hail, hurrican and drought. We developed Prevented Planting Bypass (PPB) to assist crop insurers to more easily meet the overwhelming claim load that occurred during 2019 record conditions for losses. During the first half of our SBIR Phase I program we prepared to assist our cooperating crop insurer to adjust tens of thousands of claims across a 135,000 square mile region. Unfortunately, they declined to use the application even though it had the potential to save them millions of dollars in labor and support for loss adjusting. Chasing this opportunity however, required our complete focus for much of the Phase I effort. Our PPB focus was a trade-off for the focus group of farmers that was to be hosted through a large regional crop insurance agency. Idling the farmers but causing the agency to work through the summer coordinating loss adjusting visits and administering prevented planting claims. During the second half of the Phase I project we signed an NDA with another crop insurance provider. They provided records of their claims and policies across Illinois and Iowa that enabled a retrospective analysis of approximately 1284 claims across 3374 policies. PPB provided documentation that all claims were correct and the output from the program indicated that only a handful of claims (~1%) would have needed to be visited for verification. We ended the project preparing a report for the crop insurer and for presentation to the RMA and concentrated on completing programming for PPB to prepare for operational application during 2020 across a 9-state region of the northern Midwest. This are is forecasted in 2020 to again be wetter than normal and large numbers of claims are expected again. We regard this PPB as a great success because it promises robust and accurate loss adjustment of most prevented planting loss claims from the office rather requiring expensive field visits. At the time that this report is written, we are working to set up meetings with our cooperating crop insurer and the USDA RMA for their approval to use this tool during 2020.

Publications