CVN CONTENT

Conservation Validation Network (CVN)

Beginning in 2021, CTIC and TNC have been in conversation with a number of other organizations interested in partnering on the creation of the Conservation Validation Network (CVN), which we envision as a valuable set of anonymized ground-truthing data available to support advances in remote sensing methodologies being used to track adoption of regenerative conservation practices like reduced tillage and winter cover crops.

With seed funding made available by TNC Indiana and Corteva, CTIC led a CVN Indiana Pilot. Phase I of the Pilot had three deliverables, the first of which was to host the CVN Kickoff Workshop (hybrid in-person/virtual) on Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at the Purdue Research Park, next door to our West Lafayette headquarters. Approximately 40 individuals participated, with morning presentations from CTIC, ISDA, Regrow, Indigo, SAS, Iowa State, USGS, and OpenTEAM (see below). During the afternoon session, the project partners (CTIC, Arva, Corteva) presented the initial CVN database design for feedback.

Based on input from this broad group of participants, an enrollment webpage was developed, and CTIC began to seek funding to proceed with Phase 2 of the pilot, implementation. Those fund-raising efforts continue.

For further information about CVN, please contact Dave Gustafson (gustafson@ctic.org).