In March 2022, Maui United Way, the Maui ESG Project, and NASA Harvest submitted
a proposal for funding from NASA to address critical data gaps in Maui County
related to food insecurity and climate change by using satellite imagery and
machine learning to generate cropland and crop type maps.
Through Earth Science Applications: Equity and Environmental Justice (EEJ) funding, NASA solicited proposals to advance progress on equity and environmental justice (EEJ) domestically through the application of Earth science, geospatial, and socioeconomic information.
Our project – Closing Critical Data Gaps to Address Accelerating Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture in
Highly Food Insecure Maui County – was funded, with the following key project outcomes:
UH Maui College and Maui County high school students will collect field data on crops
using smartphones at multiple agricultural sites throughout the County
(with farmer permission).
Field data, machine learning, and satellite Earth observations will be used to produce
maps of where crops are growing and assess crop conditions across Maui County.
With community guidance, crop maps will be integrated with other relevant
datasets (e.g., socioeconomic and price data) to provide information on how best
to support farmers and food security in the community.
Farmers, advocates, and community members will provide guidance and feedback regarding
data accuracy, availability, presentation of information, and usefulness to community
stakeholders.
Based on the initial collection and analysis, data collection will be planned and
integrated with overall Maui County capacity building to guide additional studies such as
soil quality, invasive species monitoring, and other addressable needs.
The primary goal of this project is to create more equitable access to food in
Maui County by helping to increase food production in a way that is both adaptive to
the changing climate and regenerative to the land.
