The overall goal of this 24-month project is to develop a crop-specific, phenology-sensitive Drought Severity Index (DSI) for daily monitoring of crop drought stress at both regional (20 m) and field-level (3.5 m) scales, by using AI and multi-source data including satellite and drone imagery, climate records, soil moisture, and field observations. The DSI, which is a software-based solution utilizing information management and data processing technologies, will provide scalable, timely, reliable drought assessments to support early warning, risk management, and resource optimization in irrigated and dryland farming.
This project approach will utilize multi-source data that include, but are not limit to: multispectral data from Sentinel-2/3, Landsat-8/9 and drones; agroclimatic data from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Manitoba provincial datasets, and on-farm weather sensors; soil moisture data from provincial network and in-field probes; and ground-truthing data from field observations and CID handheld spectrometers for vegetation condition validation. Pennmann Farms and Olds College Centre for Innovation (OCCI) will provide ground truth data collections and Pennmann Farms is selected as a key testing site for this project due to its strategic location and operational diversity.
Multi-source data will be collected from the pilot sites to support the training and validation of the DSI system. This includes four years of data: historical data of 2021 and 2025, years marked by severe drought, as well as data of 2026 and 2027, which are expected to reflect different climatic conditions. If data from 2026–2027 prove insufficient, records from 2022–2024 may be used as a backup. This combination of multi-source, multi-region, and multi-year datasets will ensure that the DSI model is trained on a wide range of seasonal and agroclimatic conditions, enhancing its robustness and reliability.
By using the proposed DSI, producers/farmers, agronomists, and decision-makers will gain access to a decision support tool that provides faster, more accurate information on crop drought conditions, enabling smarter crop management, reduced risk, and optimized resource use, enhancing decision-making at both farm and policy levels. This project, as a result, contributes to greater agricultural productivity, climate adaptation, and food security in Canada. The project will help position Canada’s agriculture sector for greater resilience and long-term sustainability through innovation in digital drought assessment.
For more information, please contact Dr. Chuhong Fei at [email protected].
