Soil Moisture Virtual Seminar Series: Estimating Economic Value of Soil Moisture Information

Access to reliable soil moisture information can improve decision-making in many applications, such as water management, flood control, wildfire management, agricultural irrigation, and crop insurance. However, soil moisture information does not have a direct market price, and it is difficult to quantify its economic value. A NIDIS-funded study conducted by a team of economics and soil moisture researchers at Oklahoma State University sought to address this gap by estimating the current and potential economic value of soil moisture information across sectors in the United States. This study found the nationwide value of soil moisture information to be on a scale of hundreds of millions to billions of dollars annually. In this presentation, lead author Reza Redmehr will provide an overview of methods and findings from this study.

This event is part of a virtual soil moisture seminar series co-hosted by the National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network (NCSMMN) in partnership with NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and USDA's Forest Service. 

For more information, please contact Elise Osenga (elise.osenga@noaa.gov).