Title: USDA-NASS Cropland Data Layer
Originator:
Abstract:
The USDA-NASS Cropland Data Layer is a raster, geo-referenced, categorized land cover data layer produced using satellite imagery from the Thematic Mapper (TM) instrument on Landsat 5, Landsat7, or the Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) on RESOURCESAT-1. The imagery was collected between the dates of 03/01/1997 and 09/14/2006. The approximate scale is 1:100,000 with a ground resolution of 30 meters by 30 meters for the TM data, 56 meters by 56 meters for the AWiFS data. The data layer is aggregated to a possible 85 standardized categories for display purposes, with the emphasis being agricultural land cover. Most data layers average about 10 to 20 categories out of the 85 possible categories.
The purpose of the Cropland Data
Layer Program is to use satellite imagery on an annual basis to (1) provide
supplemental acreage estimates for the state's major commodities and (2)
produce digital, crop specific, categorized geo-referenced output products.
This is part of a one time series in which several states are categorized annually based on the extensive field observations collected during the annual NASS June Agricultural Survey. However, no farmer reported data is included or derivable on the Cropland Data Layer CD-ROM or DVD.
This program represents a cooperative venture between three USDA Agencies (headquarters units of NASS, the Foreign Agriculture Service, and the Farm Service Agency) plus in-state agreements among the Agricultural Statistics Service, the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture.
Format: Raster GeoTIFF files. A vector shapefile is also included for each state.
Spatial Reference Information: Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), North American Datum of 1983 or World Geodetic System 1984.
Sample Maps
A State Zoomed into image
