News : Farming and Space work together

How does NASA and farming meet?

Three area farmers, Lance Lillibridge, Lori Lang, and Brian Carlson were in Orlando, Florida, attending the Commodities Classic as part of their farming businesses. 

The Commodities Classis is an annual convention and trade show that brings together farmers, agricultural industry representatives, and policymakers from across the United States to discuss issues related to American agriculture and the commodity crops it produces. The event is hosted jointly by four major commodity organizations: the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, and the National Sorghum Producers.

The event typically features a variety of educational sessions, presentations, and panel discussions focused on topics such as crop production, farm management, trade, and policy. In addition, the trade show portion of the event offers attendees the opportunity to network with vendors and suppliers, learn about the latest agricultural technologies and equipment, and discover new products and services. The event is held in the winter before planting season begins. The location varies from year to year for the Commodities Classic.

Lillibridge a former Iowa Corn Growers President had the opportunity to speak on a panel while he was there and spent a lot of time behind the scenes talking to the scientists who work in the Earth Science department at NASA's Kennedy's Space Center. You might wonder what does NASA have to do with farming? Farmers dig into the earth while NASA works on ways to get as far away from it as possible. 

Following the derecho in 2020, Lillibridge and his wife Heidi's first brush with NASA happened. NASA had contacted the Iowa Corn Growers to see if they knew of about five or six farmers that could help them. NASA needed photos and coordinates of damage on the ground. The couple spent a lot of time taking photos of the damage and tracking the locations via GPS. The photos and information were calibrated with the things that NASA had seen in space at the same time. The comparisons could help them learn more about mapping potential weather patterns and hopefully aid in weather predictions or at the very least help them understand even more how weather works. With the NASA data, there is hope that it will help to build a model that would help farmers correlations between why some crops did well and why others didn't using all of the weather data that they collected. 

Another of the areas that NASA needed a farmer's expertise was in something that they are trying to do in space. They are working to develop food for the astronauts, and part of that task has been trying to find ways to grow plants in space. While there were several things that Lillibridge couldn't share about his visits with NASA he was able to share a suggestion he gave them for a new material that might be able to replace some of the plastic containers that they use in space. 

As the past president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, Lillibridge has had the opportunity to learn even more about corn and its by-products than the wealth of knowledge that he already had. We're all familiar with ethanol, corn syrup, corn starch, corn in a can and corn on the cob, but did you know that corn can be turned into a plastic-like material? 

A product called Monoethylene glycol (MEG) is commonly used in the production of polyester resins, films, and fibers, as well as in the manufacture of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins, which are used to make bottles and other containers. If NASA deems this product usable in space, well, thank Lillibridge for the idea, and NASA can thank farmers for the products.

"Being involved with Iowa Corn has brought an enormous amount of opportunity personally and to our farming operations, but I never imagined it would bring me to very high-level conversations with NASA's Earth Scientists," he said. "It is fascinating that our conversation will potentially help with farming operations on the ground but also in space and potentially Mars!"

While in Orlando, there might have been a little time for sightseeing, but most days found Lillibridge talking to NASA. He spoke at a booth one day, he was on a panel another time. Another of the opportunities he had involved a security clearance and a background check. He had his own tour of the facility along with holding behind-the-scenes conversations with the organization. He couldn't share anything about those conversations but let's assume that because he knows an awful lot about farming and I'm guessing that folks in a lab don't, well they were "all ears" when they needed some expertise on how to use corn, or simply how to grow things in space.

Several of the other farmers that were at the event were able to tour the Kennedy Space Center in the area where they assemble the rockets and visit the laboratories where they grow plants for the space program.