MONITORING DROUGHT RESISTANCE OF CORN, SOYBEANS, AND OATS IN IOWA FROM 2000-2023 USING REMOTE SENSING

Abstract

Since 2000, Iowa has had over $10 billion in crop loss insurance payouts, in which droughts were the largest weather-related factor. The aim of this research is to use remote sensing to demonstrate how much more drought resistant corn, soybeans, and oats have become. The three crops being observed are corn, soybeans, and oats from 2000-2023 between May 15th and October 15th, which is considered Iowa’s growing season. Currently both genetic modification, in corn and soybeans, and non-genetic modification, in oats, are being used to increase these crops’ ability to resist drought. The U.S. Drought Monitor labels areas of drought and classifies them by intensity using many different factors, with some being precipitation, soil moisture, vegetation health, etc. From this, an average drought intensity number for each year’s growing season is calculated. Using remote sensing data from the Landsat 5, 7, and 8 satellites, an index is calculated showing how drought affected vegetation is. CropScape is a tool maintained by George Mason University that shows crop-specific land cover, this is used to separate and display each crop with the previously mentioned index. Each year’s crop yield totals (in bushels/acre), from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, are presented to see if they correlate with recorded and calculated drought conditions. Using these methods and indices, it is shown that drought conditions are having less of an effect on crops in Iowa over time, meaning that corn, soybeans, and to a lesser degree oats, have become more drought resistant.