NASS Developer

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

Welcome developers and data users

This area connects you with digital data, web services, and other related technical resources. Use our Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to gain access to select data from our online database, geospatial maps, and geospatial data products.


Ag Census Web Maps - This API gives developers direct access to county-level data available through a set of geospatial maps organized in five categories – Crops and Plants, Demographics, Economics, Livestock and Animals, and Operators. The mapped data are in the form of percentage, average, or ratio values; they are derived from the 2012 Census of Agriculture. The web maps and data provide a detailed picture of U.S. farms and ranches and those who operate them.


CropScape Developer Guide - The geospatial data product called the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) has 30-meter spatial resolution, covering the continental United States for multiple years, starting nationally in 2008 and for selected states dating back to 1997. The CDL is hosted on the CropScape portal, which also offers a cultivated data layer called the "Crop Mask Layer." The cultivated data layer is based on the most recent five years of CDL and is updated annually.


Quick Stats - This API provides direct access to the statistical information contained in our on-line Quick Stats database. Quick Stats contains official estimates related to virtually every aspect of U.S. agricultural production. NASS develops these estimates from data collected through hundreds of annual sample surveys and the Census of Agriculture, which is conducted every five years and provides state- and county-level data.


VegScape Developer Guide - Crop vegetation conditions are displayed at 250-meter spatial resolution, covering the continental United States. The VegScape website delivers daily, weekly, and biweekly indices of vegetation condition beginning in 2000. The indices include the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and accompanying comparison ratios for analyzing crop conditions across years. It includes the Crop Mask Layer to mask out all non-agricultural features.

Last Modified: 05/04/2018