Statistical estimation of crop yields for the Midwestern United States using satellite images, climate datasets, and soil property maps

In this paper, we described the statistical modeling of crop yields using satellite images, climatic datasets, soil property maps, and fertilizer data for the Midwestern United States during 2001-2012. Satellite images were obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and climatic datasets were provided by the Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) Climate Group. Soil property maps were derived from the Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD). Our multivariate regression models produced quite good prediction accuracies, with differences of approximately 8-15% from the governmental statistics of corn and soybean yields. The unfavorable conditions of climate and vegetation in 2012 could have resulted in a decrease in yields according to the regression models, but the actual yields were greater than predicted. It can be interpreted that factors other than climate, vegetation, soil, and fertilizer may be involved in the negative biases. Also, we found that soybean yield was more affected by minimum temperature conditions while corn yield was more associated with photosynthetic activities. These two crops can have different potential impacts regarding climate change, and it is important to quantify the degree of the crop sensitivities to climatic variations to help adaptation by humans. Considering the yield decreases during the drought event, we can assume that climatic effect may be stronger than human adaptive capacity. Thus, further studies are demanded particularly by enhancing the data regarding human activities such as tillage, fertilization, irrigation, and comprehensive agricultural technologies.