A generalized regression-based model for forecasting winter wheat yields in Kansas and Ukraine using MODIS data

Wheat is one of the key cereal crops grown worldwide, providing the primary caloric and nutritional source for millions of people around the world. In order to ensure food security and sound, actionable mitigation strategies and policies for management of food shortages, timely and accurate estimates of global crop production are essential. This study combines a new BRDF-corrected, daily surface reflectance dataset developed from NASA's Moderate resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) with detailed official crop statistics to develop an empirical, generalized approach to forecast wheat yields. The first step of this study was to develop and evaluate a regression-based model for forecasting winter wheat production in Kansas. This regression-based model was then directly applied to forecast winter wheat production in Ukraine. The forecasts of production in Kansas closely matched the USDA/NASS reported numbers with a 7% error. The same regression model forecast winter wheat production in Ukraine within 10% of the official reported production numbers six weeks prior to harvest. Using new data from MODIS, this method is simple, has limited data requirements, and can provide an indication of winter wheat production shortfalls and surplus prior to harvest in regions where minimal ground data is available.