First-of-its-kind High Resolution Map of Ukrainian Sunflower Cropland Allows for New Estimates of Production

NASA Harvest has been monitoring agricultural production in Ukraine since our organization’s inception. Agriculture makes up 10% of the country’s GDP, more than 20% of its exports, and 5% of its employment. As a major agricultural exporter of crops including wheat, maize and sunflower oil, knowing how much of a given crop is planted across the country, how the crop health varies throughout the growing season, and estimating yields ahead of harvest are important to ensure market stability and food security. With the invasion of Ukraine by Russia causing disruptions to agricultural production, it is vital to understand how cropland is being impacted and the resulting effects on crop yields.

In May 2024, researchers with the NASA Harvest Consortium released a new method to map sunflower cropland using Earth observation radar satellites. That workflow was used to produce a high resolution (20 m) map of sunflower cropland across Ukraine. The resulting map of sunflower planted area has allowed for enhanced insights into sunflower production across the country, specifically how it has changed in the aftermath of the Russian invasion.

40% of Ukraine’s total agricultural output comes from locations that are impacted by the invasion. With conflict zones being inherently dangerous places to conduct cropland surveys, Earth observation data provides a vital alternative to monitoring crop planting, health, and estimating yields. The efforts by the NASA Harvest research team represent the highest resolution and largest scale analysis of Ukrainian sunflowers, the nation’s largest grown industrial crop.

Their analysis found a 5% decrease (3,500 sq km loss) in sunflower planted areas in 2022 compared to 2021. The majority of this loss was seen in the Russian-occupied regions while Ukrainian-controlled regions saw no substantial losses. Within occupied areas, sunflower planted area had decreased by 29% between 2021 and 2022.

Inspecting the planted area maps shows where sunflower production has shifted within the country. As would be expected, sunflower planted cropland has all but disappeared along the frontline of the war.

Maps comparing planted area of sunflower cropland across Ukraine for 2021 (in left) and 2022 (in right). The five boxes show zoomed in sections of the country to highlight differences between 2021 and 2022. The western and north-eastern boxes (red and light blue respectively) show increases in planted area while the eastern box (blue) shows a decrease in production. Sunflower planted cropland has almost completely disappeared along the front line of the conflict (the pink line that cuts from the north to south of the country) as well as within the zoomed in portion shown in the yellow box.

The high resolution maps also provided insight into conservation management practices within Ukraine. Given the degrading impact that sunflower crops have on soil, farmers are recommended to follow a 7 year rotation cycle with the crop. This means that sunflowers should only be planted in the same field once every 7 years. Comparing the planted area maps of 2021 and 2022, 9% of fields had sunflowers planted both years. Knowing this allows officials to better understand and analyze the impact (or lack thereof) of conservation practices throughout the country.

Overall, decreases in sunflower production were less than predicted across the entirety of Ukraine. This study shows the utility of satellite imagery in monitoring agricultural production, particularly in areas where access is restricted like conflict zones.

Read the original study in its entirety here.