NASA Agriculture Teams Engage Students at National 4-H Conference

NASA Harvest joined NASA Acres and other NASA Earth science teams at this year’s National 4-H Conference Youth Career Fair, where students from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C. to explore leadership, service, and career pathways.

It was NASA’s second year participating in the event and NASA Harvest’s first.

Many students were surprised that NASA works in agriculture. Conversations at the NASA tables covered how satellite data can help monitor crop conditions, track drought, and improve yield forecasts. Students were especially interested to learn that NASA satellite data is freely available and used by researchers, decision-makers, farmers, and others working across the food and agriculture systems.

The visit also gave students a hands-on look at how remote sensing works. At one table, NASA demonstrated how a STELLA instrument works by showing how various plants reflect light across different wavelengths. The demo helped students connect how remote sensing (both in hand held sensors and in Earth-orbitting satellites) can allow scientists to see how crops are faring in the face of drought, the aftermath of natural disasters, and throughout the growing cycle. 

Students also had many questions about careers and opportunities at NASA. They asked about expected paths like engineering and science, but also about communications, outreach, project management, and other roles that help connect NASA’s work with the people who benefit from it.

“Students at 4-H are already thinking about agriculture, service, and their communities,” said Cordelia Hiers Brady, Agriculture Program Coordinator at NASA’s Earth Science Division. “Being here gives us a chance to show that NASA Earth Science is connected to those interests and that there are many ways to contribute to this work.”

NASA’s agriculture work depends on those connections. Through NASA Harvest and our sister consortium, NASA Acres, alongside a number of other outreach activities including the annual Space4Ag tour, NASA continues to work with farmers, extension agents, students, and agricultural organizations to make Earth observation data more useful outside research environments.

Attending the conference career fair was a chance to make that work more visible to students who may not have known NASA has a role in agriculture, but who do know why agriculture matters.