Using the Global Agricultural and Disaster Assessment System (GADAS) for Crop Condition Assessments and Capacity-Building Efforts
Event Information
This webinar will provide a demonstration on how to use the tools on the Global Agricultural and Disaster Assessment System (GADAS) to do desktop analysis, and a case study on how USDA/FAS is using GADAS to build host country capacity with the Ministry of Agriculture in Honduras. GADAS is a publicly accessible USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) platform that was designed to integrate a vast array of highly detailed earth observation data streams particularly targeted towards agricultural and disaster assessment analysis in an easy-to-use web environment. The publicly available system combines daily climate, satellite imagery, and other geospatial data with refined analytical programs capable of comparing and quantifying agricultural production prospects from the desktop. The system also helps with anticipating potential disasters (cyclone tracking, drought evolution) as well as rapid pre and post-disaster agricultural assessments.
This ground-breaking web-GIS (Geographic Information System) platform provides access to routine global geospatial products (maps, charts, tables) that analysts require for comprehensive situational investigations and/or routine assessments, and frees up time for end-users to think about the implications of unfolding events rather than spending countless hours creating the raw products from which intelligence or impacts can be gleaned.
Speakers
Kenneth Pelman
GIS Program Manager
ASRC Federal / USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Kenneth Pelman, PMP is a GIS Program Manager currently working for ASRC Federal under contract to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. He is responsible for managing development teams who create GIS web applications that help analysts estimate global crop yield and production as well as visualizing where overseas development resources have been utilized. Previously, he spent 13 years as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. Ken received Master's degrees in both Meteorology and GIS from Penn State University.
Andres H. Romero
International Program Specialist
USDA FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICE
Andrés H. Romero is an International Program Specialist with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Office of Capacity Building and Development. He has over seven years’ experience managing market intelligence training activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. He also manages “Cacao for Peace,” a USAID funded initiative for the strengthening of the cacao sector in Colombia. Prior to joining USDA Andrés served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica and managed information technology projects in the private sector. He received an M.A. in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University, and a B.A. in Political Science with an International Relations focus from Stanford University.
Justin D. Jenkins
Crop Assessment Analyst
USDA FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICE
Justin D. Jenkins is a Crop Assessment Analyst with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Office of Global Analysis. He has over five years’ experience providing market intelligence on global agricultural production, area and yield forecasts. Mr. Jenkins is currently the South-East Asia crop analyst whose assessments are an integral component of the monthly crop estimates issued by USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board - a primary source for agricultural information worldwide.
Anna Brenes
Data Steward
USAID Bureau for Food Security
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