"Our water supply is always under threat." Like most farmers in California's fertile San Joaquin valley, Zachary Sheely is dependent on snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada mountains for his livelihood. But the snows have become sparse and inconsistent, complicating decisions on which crops to grow. "We are getting more and more years in a row with extreme conditions so the risk to our crops is huge," he says. Help could soon be at hand. A pair of airborne sensors developed by NASA, coupled with on-the-ground smartphone apps, could make the lives of farmers like Sheely a little easier.
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