Starvation via Satellite?

A recent NASA news release announced the ability of a satellite to literally foresee famine. Molly Brown of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and her colleagues created a model using data from satellite remote sensing of crop growth and food prices to anticipate food shortages brought on by drought. These food shortages then lead to higher prices for food in arid and semi-arid regions around the world.

Here is the situation...

A family must eat. A farmer must supply the food to eat. The sky must supply the rain. Therefore, less rainfall = less food = more famine. Not too difficult. But new research may make this situation even easier to see. Brown and her team used data from sensors on NASA satellites to test crop strength. From space, sensors pick up reflections from the ground to determine the density of plant growth which enables researchers to estimate the rainfall. Maps are then created which can be used by organizations such as the Famine Early Warning System Network to estimate the strength of a crop and thereby its potential economic value.

This is a great step in the right direction to battling hunger. However, I am betting it is a rather expensive undertaking. Are there other ways to combat hunger in areas prone to drought? What do you think?