{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=B1731AB0-EB5E-4489-9DDC-2034B2F77DA7", "VIDEO: Sen. Moran Questions NASA Nominee on Importance of Earth Science Programs for Kansas Agriculture", "2025-12-03", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KS", "Jerry Moran", "M000934", "www.moran.senate.gov", "moran", "https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kan.) \u2013 chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation \u2013 today questioned the NASA Administrator nominee, Jared Isaacman, during his nomination hearing. In his remarks, Sen. Moran emphasized to Mr. Isaacman the significant role that NASA\u2019s Earth Science Division plays in supporting the agriculture industry and shared a letter from a Kansas farmer, Dwane Roth of Holcomb, on the importance of NASA\u2019s earth science research.\n\n\u201cI want to mention for a moment the mission directive of science, and the letter that captured me is from a Kansas farmer named Mr. Roth,\u201d said Sen. Moran. \u201cHe indicates to me that NASA\u2019s earth science investments \u2013 I\u2019m reading directly from his letter \u2013 now directly support U.S. farmers in ways that were unimaginable even a decade ago. Tools based on NASA\u2019s data and science \u2013 like OpenET, NISAR, the Rangeland Analysis Platform \u2013 provide real-time field level insight into soil moisture, biomass, drought stress, water use, yield stability. These aren\u2019t future technologies, he says, they are already built, functional and being used in states like mine.\u201d\n\nSen. Moran went on to highlight the NASA Acres Farm Innovation Ambassador Team (FIAT), a national partnership that connects producers with NASA researchers to develop practical tools for farming using satellite data.\n\n\u201cThis mission is to unite farmers with NASA to turn earth observation technology into real-world decisions that support profitability, water efficiency and risk reduction,\u201d continued Sen. Moran. \u201cA Kansas farmer found value in NASA. It\u2019s something we don\u2019t always talk about and think about when we think about space. I\u2019m looking for your thoughts in response to what this farmer is reminding me of. How do you see NASA supporting or operationally developing the satellites that support precision agriculture? Tell me your response to this idea that NASA has a role to play in the everyday lives of Kansas and American agriculture.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt the present time, we only inhabit one planet,\u201d responded Mr. Isaacman. \u201cEarth science is pretty vitally important. It\u2019s a role that NASA has had since the agency was established. We have Landsat satellites up there that are looking down, understanding droughts and flooding and wildfires \u2013 natural disasters \u2013 almost essentially in real time that obviously play a direct role on the agriculture community. There\u2019s obviously our GPS constellations that are going to go hand-in-hand with agriculture equipment for next generation farming. So, I do see this as a vital role that NASA continues to fulfill.\u201d\n\nClick HERE to Watch Sen. Moran\u2019s Full Questioning", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=B1731AB0-EB5E-4489-9DDC-2034B2F77DA7"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9113890118896961, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}