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National Agricultural Statistics Service
Research and Development Division
Office
of the Director
Census and Survey Research Branch
Data Quality | Statistical Methodology
Geospatial Information Branch
Area Frame | Spatial Analysis

Announcement1:  On January 31, 2012 NASS released the 2011 Cropland Data Layer (CDL) via CropScape. The 2011 CDL will be national coverage at 30m resolution. Coincident with this release will be national coverage for crop year 2008. National coverage will be available for four consecutive years 2008-2011.

Announcement2:   Please visit/bookmark the CropScape portal at http://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape to visualize, interact, and download the CDL.

Announcement2:   Please check the crosswalk document showing important changes to all historical CDL products.

Announcement4:   Power users can download the 2011 CDL in .img format @ 2011 National CDL. Warning filesize > 2gb.


  • Published from August 2011 GeoCarto Intl by Claire Boryan, Zhengwei Yang, Rick Mueller, and Mike Craig Monitoring US Agriculture: the US Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Cropland Data Layer Program. Posted 1/30/2012
  • USDA Blog USDA Celebrates the United States’ Entry into the Open Government Partnership. Posted 9/20/2011
  • USDA Blog Farm Internet Access on the Rise, Now Let’s Connect. Posted 8/16/2011
  • On September 14, 2011 the CropScape-Cropland Data Layer Project Team received a group achievement award at the 63rd Annual USDA Secretary's Honor Awards. Posted 9/15/11.
  • USDA Blog New Geospatial Data Service Now Available. Posted 1/11/2011
  • NASS releases the new CDL visualization portal CropScape.
  • NASS press release NASS Launches New CropScape Geospatial Data Service. Posted 1/10/2011.
  • All CDL products are downloadable from the Geospatial Data Gateway. Instructions for downloading from the Data Gateway are posted. Please note all historical CDL products created for one state are delivered via one download.
  • Published from November 2010, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing by David M. Johnson and Richard Mueller titled "The 2009 Cropland Data Layer".


    For questions and/or comments please contact the Geospatial Information Branch.

     

    • The Cropland Data Layer (CDL) contains crop specific digital data layers, suitable for use in geographic information systems (GIS) applications.  The CDL Program annually focuses on producing digital categorized geo-referenced output products using imagery from the Resourcesat-1 AWiFS and the Landsat 5 TM satellites.  See the Indian Government's National Remote Sensing Agency handbook for the Resourcesat-1 satellite. The CDL Program represents a cooperative venture between three USDA Agencies (Headquarters units of NASS, the Foreign Agriculture Service IPA group and the Farm Service Agency/Aerial Photography Field Office) plus in-state agreements between NASS Field Offices and their respective state government or university partners. Currently there are numerous historical research reports with more detailed information on NASS's general uses of remote sensing and GIS.

    The Cropland Data Layer product contains statewide categorizations of ortho-rectified mosaicked images using See5 software, and are exported to GeoTIFF format.  ESRI’s ArcExplorer GIS data viewer that can be downloaded to view the CDL's. Limitations of this data are declared.  The CD-ROM's and/or DVD’s are at cost of reproduction to the public.  

    Visit our cooperators sites to see how they are using and enhancing the Cropland Data Layer products.
    An independent CDL accuracy assessment performed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute of Natural Resources Sustainability titled: Assessment and Potential of the 2007 USDA-NASS Cropland Data Layer for Statewide Annual Land Cover Applications

    A CDL History White Paper: A brief history from 1971 to present