The Bolsa de Cereales worked for many months developing this educational activity as part of the region’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program, bringing on NASA Harvest as a partner organization to help implement the course. A focal point of the program is the importance of sustainability in agriculture and the role of remotely sensed satellite data in agricultural monitoring. Instructional modules include:

1. Introduction to the program
2. The importance of agricultural estimates
3. Estimation methodology: subjective method
4. Objective method: new technologies
5. Remote sensing, Big Data, AI
6. The Grains Exchange and NASA-Harvest project to improve crop estimates in Argentina
7. Technological adoption and sustainable practices in Argentine crop production
8. Field Work
9. Results Presentation

Students learn about the agro-industrial sector and the role of Argentina in international markets including: supply and demand for grains, price estimates and variability, transparency and functioning of food markets, food security, the climate market, estimates reports, and the Grains Exchange report. They are also taught of satellite data applications for the characterization of agricultural production in Argentina including: main crops, productive areas, sowing and harvest calendars, phenological stages, area and yields performance, area losses, crop condition, data processing, and crop tours. Students work with satellite imagery for the duration of the course and are taught of the contributions of new technologies to the preparation of estimates as well as the main challenges for remote sensors, big data and artificial intelligence.

The inaugural educational course wrapped up in late 2021, with students and teachers alike highlighting the value of educating the next generation of agricultural scientists.