BOZEMAN, Montana -- NASA's Earth Science Enterprise has renewed its support for a project to evaluate remote sensing as a tool for on-farm management of small grains like wheat and barley. The project began in 2000 with direct support from NASA.

The project's two principal partners, Triangle Ag Services of Fort Benton, Mont. and the Montana State University Ag Experiment Station in Havre, are currently evaluating the utility of remote sensing for mapping wild oats and making decisions about variable rate fertilizer application. The results of this project may provide valuable economic and practical information for Montana grain growers.

NASA's support will be directed through Positive Systems of Whitefish, Mont., which will improve the utility and reliability of the data to the project. Positive Systems provides remote sensing imagery and services to the environmental, agricultural, and scientific community.

The project was organized by MSU TechLink and brings together the resources of several organizations, including Montana's Department of Environmental Quality and the Chouteau County Conservation District. "There have been lots of advances in remote sensing and interpretive research in recent years, but most farmers are not yet adopting these technologies" said Dan Swanson, TechLink's director of agricultural and environmental initiatives. "We hope that this project can help move the technology in that direction."

TechLink is located at MSU in Bozeman and funded by NASA and the Department of Defense to link companies in Montana and the surrounding region with federal laboratories for joint research and technology transfer. Its overriding purpose is to contribute to the success of both technology-based companies and key resource-based industries in the state and region.

Contact:
Dan Swanson
MSU TechLink
(406) 994-7736
dss@montana.edu

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