United States Department of Agriculture

Research and Science

CropScape and Cropland Data Layer

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Announcements

Announcement1: The 2019 CDL was released Feb 5, 2020.

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

Announcement3: Users can download the national 2008 - 2019 CDL's and the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Confidence Layers from National Downloads. Warning many file sizes > 6gb.

 

2020

• Zhang, C., Z. Yang, L. Di, and L. Lin, (2020). Refinement of Historical Cropland Data Layer Based on Deep Learning Approach. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLII-3/W11, 161-164, Pecora 21/ISRSE 38. Baltimore, MD, October 6-11, 2019. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-3-W11-161-2020. Posted 2/14/2020.
• Zhang, C., L. Di, Z. Yang, L. Lin, P. Hao, (2020). AgKit4EE: A toolkit for agricultural land use modeling of the conterminous United States based on Google Earth Engine. Environmental Modelling and Software, Volume 129, July 2020, 104694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104694. Posted 3/13/2020.

2019

• Gran, R., (2019). Satellites Track Status of Nation's Food Supply courtesy NASA Goddard Media Studios. Posted 12/19.2019.
• Johnson, D., (2019). Using the Landsat archive to map crop cover history across the United States. Remote Sensing of Environment 232, 10, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111286. Posted 9/12/2019.
• Colliander, A., Z. Yang, R. Mueller, A. Sandborn, R. Reichle, W. Crow, D. Entekhabi, and S. Yueh, (2019). Consistency between NASS Surveyed Soil Moisture Conditions and SMAP Soil Moisture Observations. American Geophysical Union, Water Resources Research. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR024475. Posted 8/22/2019.
• Sandborn, A., R. Mueller, C. Boryan, D. Johnson, Z. Yang, L. Ebinger, A. Rosales, P. Willis, R. Seffrin, R. Jennings, M. Deaton, and H. Hamer, (2019). NASS Geospatial Applications from the Cropland Data Layer. ISI World Statistics Conference, Malaysia, Aug 18-23, 2019. Posted 8/21/2019.
• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, P. Willis, and A. Sandborn, (2019) Early Season Winter Wheat Identification Using Sentinel -1
  Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Optical Data, IGARSS 2019, Yokohama Japan, July 28 - August 2, 2019. Posted 8/21/2019.
• Yang, Z. and C. Boryan, (2019) Impact of Non-Proportional Training Sampling of Imbalanced Classes on Land Cover Classification Accuracy With See5 Decision Tree, IGARSS 2019, Yokohama Japan, July 28 - August 2, 2019. Posted 8/21/2019.
• Wulder, M., T Loveland, D. Roy, C. Crawford, J. Masek, C.Woodcock, R. Allen, M. Anderson, A. Belward, W. Cohen, J. Dwyer, A. Erb, F. Gao, P. Griffiths, D. Helder, T. Hermosilla, J. Hipple, P, Hostert, M. Hughes, J. Huntington, D. Johnson, R. Kennedy, A. Kilic, Z. Li, L. Lymburner, J. McCorkel, N. Pahlevan, T.Scambos, C. Schaaf, J.Schott, Y. Sheng, J. Storey, E. Vermote, J. Vogelmann, J. White, R.Wynne, and Z. Zhu, (2019). Current status of Landsat program, science, and applications. Remote Sensing of Environment 225, (5), Pages 127-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.02.015. Posted 5/24/2019.

2018

• Torbick, N.; X. Huang, B. Ziniti, D. Johnson, J. Masek, and M. Reba, (2018). Fusion of Moderate Resolution Earth Observations for Operational Crop Type Mapping. Remote Sensing, 10, 7, doi 10.3390/rs10071058 Posted 11/5/2018.
• Gao, F., M. Anderson, C.Daughtry, and D. Johnson, (2018). Assessing the Variability of Corn and Soybean Yields in Central Iowa Using High Spatiotemporal Resolution Multi-Satellite Imagery. Remote Sensing, 10, 9, doi:10.3390/rs10091489. Posted 11/5/2018.
  
• Liu, L., X. Zhang, Y. Yu, F. Gao, and Z. Yang, (2018), Real-time Monitoring of Crop Phenology in the Midwestern United States using VIIRS Observations. Remote Sensing, 2018, 10, (10) 1540. doi:10.3390/rs10101540 Posted 11/5/2018.
• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, A. Sandborn, P. Willis, and B. Haack (2018). Operational Agricultural Flood Monitoring With Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar. IGARSS 2018, Valenca Spain, July 22-27, 2018. doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2018.8519458 Posted 08/09/2018.
• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, and B. Haack (2018). Evaluation of Sentinel-1A C-Band Synthetic Aperature Radar for Citrus Crop Classification in Florida, United States. 7369 - 7372, IGARSS 2018, Valenca Spain, July 22-27, 2018. doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2018.8519223 Posted 08/09/2018.
• Boryan, C., (2018). The USDA NASS Cropland Data Layer Program Transition from Research to Operations (2006-2009). White Paper. Posted 06/04/2018.

2017

• Boryan, C., and Z. Yang, (2017). Integration of the Cropland Data Layer Based Automatic Stratification Method into the Traditional Area Frame Construction Process. Survey Research Methods, 11(3), 289-306. doi: dx.doi.org/10.18148/srm/2017.v11i3.6725. Posted 10/26/2017.
• Lark, T., Mueller, R., Johnson, D., and H. Gibbs, (2017). Measuring land-use and land-cover change using the U.S. department of agriculture’s cropland data layer: Cautions and recommendations. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 62, October, pp. 224-235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2017.06.007, Posted 5/23/2019.
• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, P. Willis, and L. Di, (2017). Developing Crop Specific Area Frame Stratifications based on Geospatial Crop Frequency and Cultivation Data Layers, Journal of Integrative Agriculture 16(2): pp 312-323, doi.org/10.1016/S2095-3119(16)61396-5 posted 4/26/17.
• Mladenova, I., J. Bolten, W. Crow, M. Anderson, C. Hain, D. Johnson, and R. Mueller, (2017). Intercomparison of Soil Moisture, Evaporative Stress, and Vegetation Indices for Estimating Corn and Soybean Yields Over the U.S., IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 10 (4), pp. 1328 - 1343, doi 10.1109/JSTARS.2016.2639338. Posted 5/24/2019.
• King, L.A., B. Adusei, S. Stehman, P. Potapov, X. Song, A. Krylov, C. Di Bella, T. Loveland, D.Johnson, and M. Hansen, (2017). A multi-resolution approach to national-scale cultivated area estimation of soybean, Remote Sensing of Environment 195 (15) June pp. 13-29, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.03.047. Posted 5/24/2019.
• Yang, Z, W. Crow, L. Hu, L. Di, and R. Mueller (2017). SMAP Data for cropland soil moisture assessment — A case study. IGARSS 2017, Fort Worth, Texas, July 23-28, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8127373 Posted 5/13/19.
• Gao, F., M. Anderson, X. Zhang, Z. Yang, J. Alfieri, W.Kustas, R. Mueller, D. Johnson, and J. Prueger, (2017), Toward mapping crop progress at field scales through fusion of Landsat and MODIS imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment 188, January 2017, pp. 9-25 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.11.004
• Xiarchos, I., and A. Sandborn, (2017) Wind Energy Land Distribution in the United States of America Office of Chief Economist, USDA, July.

2016

• Boryan, C. G. Yang, Z., B. Seffrin, (2016). Post Stratification Assessment of the NASS Automated Stratification Method based on the Cropland Data Layer, IGARSS 2016, Beijing China, July 10-15, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2016.7730550 posted 5/17/17.
• Yang, Z., L. Hu, G. Yu, R. Shrestha, L. Di, C. Boryan, and R. Mueller, Web Service-Based SMAP Soil Moisture Data Visualization, Dissemination and Analytics Based on VegScape Framework, IGARSS 2016, Beijing China, July 10-15, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2016.7729939 posted 8/10/16.
• Yang, Z., R. Shrestha, W. Crow, and L. Di, Evaluation of assimilated SMOS Soil Moisture data for US cropland Soil Moisture monitoring IGARSS 2016, Beijing China, July 10-15, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2016.7730366 posted 5/18/17.
• Shrestha, R., L. Di, E. Yu, L. Kang, Lin Li, S. Rahman, M. Deng, and Z. Yang, “Regression based Corn Yield Assessment using MODIS Based Daily NDVI in Iowa State,” The Fifth International Conference on Agro-Geoinformatics, July 2016, Tianjin,China, doi: 10.1109/Agro-Geoinformatics.2016.7577657 posted 5/18/17.
• Yu, E., L. Di, L. Kang, R. Shrestha, S. Rahman, L. Lin, M. Deng, and Z. Yang, “Online parameterization for WOFOST for United States using open geospatial standards,” The Fifth International Conference on Agro-geoinformatics, July 2016, Tianjin,China, doi: 10.1109/Agro-Geoinformatics.2016.7577658 posted 5/18/17.
• Otkin, J., M. Anderson, C. Hain, M. Svobodad, D. Johnson, R. Mueller, T. Tadesse, B. Wardlow, J. Brown, (2016). Assessing the evolution of soil moisture and vegetation conditions during the 2012 United States flash drought, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, V 218–219 (15) March, pp. 230-242, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2015.12.065. Posted 5/24/2019.
• Johnson, D., (2016) A comprehensive assessment of the correlations between field crop yields and commonly used MODIS products,, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 52, October, pp. 65–81, doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2016.05.010 posted 8/10/16.
  

2015

• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, and P. Willis, “A Novel Method for Area Frame Stratification based on Geospatial Crop Planting Frequency Data Layers” Proc. of the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2015 IEEE International, Milan, Italy, July 26 – 31, 2015. doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2015.7326706 Posted 6/13/16.
• Johnson, D., (2015). The role of remote sensing for regional monitoring of U.S. crop condition and yield, Evaluation of drought and drought impacts through interdisciplinary methods. Global Change Research Centre AS CR, ISBN: 978-80-87902-12-7, pp. 47-53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01509. Posted 11/19/15.
• Johnson, D., R. Mueller, and P. Willis, (2015) The utility of the Cropland Data Layer for monitoring US grassland extent Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference on the Conservation of America's Grasslands. September 29-October 1, Fort Collins, CO. Washington, DC: National Wildlife Federation. Pages 15-19. Posted 07/08/2016.
• Seffrin, R., (2015). From SAS® Data to Interactive Web Graphics Built Through PROC JSON, Southeast SAS Users Conference, Sept 27 - 29. Posted 11/18/15.

2014

• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, L. Di, and K. Hunt (2014). A New Automatic Stratification Method for U.S. Agricultural Area Sampling Frame Construction Based on the Cropland Data Layer, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 7 (11) pp. 4317 - 4327, Nov 2014. doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2014.2322584 Posted 7/22/14.
• Han, W.,Z. Yang, L. Di, and B. Zhang, (2014). Enhancing agricultural geospatial data dissemination and applications using geospatial Web services, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 7(11), pp. 4539 - 4547, doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2014.2315593 Posted 11/18/15.
• Boryan, C. and Z. Yang, (2014). Operational implementation of a new automatic stratification method using geospatial cropland data layers in the NASS area frame section, Proceedings of IGARSS 2014 & 35th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing, Quebec City, Canada, July 13-18, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2014.6946882
• Boryan, C. and Z. Yang. (2014). Implementation of a new automatic stratification method using geospatial cropland data layers in NASS area frame construction". Proceedings of IGARSS 2014 & 35th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing, Quebec City, Canada, July 13-18, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2014.6946882 Posted 6/4/15.
• Wang, C., C. Zhong, and Z. Yang, (2014). Assessing bioenergy-driven agricultural land use change and biomass quantities with MODIS time series in the U.S. Midwest, J. Appl. Remote Sens. 8(1), 085198 Nov 03, doi: 10.1117/1.JRS.8.085198 Posted 11/18/15.
• Johnson, D., (2014). An assessment of pre- and within-season remotely sensed variables for forecasting corn and soybean yields in the United States. Remote Sensing of Environment 141 (5) pp 116 - 128. doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2013.10.027 Posted 1/31/14.
• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, and P. Willis, (2014). US geospatial crop frequency data layers, August 11-14, Third International Conference on Agro-geoinformatics, Beijing, China, doi:10.1109/Agro-Geoinformatics.2014.6910657 Posted 6/4/15.
• USDA Blog by R. Mueller. Need for Geospatial Data Grows Across the Country April 2014. Posted 7/22/14.
• Han, W., Z. Yang, L. Di, A. Yagci, and S. Han, (2014). Making Cropland Data Layer Data Accessible and Actionable in GIS Education Journal of Geography,) 113(3), doi: 10.1080/00221341.2013.838286 Posted 1/31/14.
• Han, W., Z. Yang, L. Di, and P. Yue (2014). A Geospatial Web Service Approach For Creating On-Demand Cropland Data Layer Thematic Maps Transactions of the ASABE, 57(1), 239-247 doi: 10.13031/trans.57.10020 Posted 6/4/15.

2013

• Han, W., Z. Yang, L. Di, and P. Yue (2013). A Geospatial Web Service Approach for Creating On-Demand Cropland Data Layer Thematic Maps. Transactions of the ASABE, 57(1) pp 239-247. doi: 10.13031/trans.57.10020 Posted 7/21/14.
• Mueller R., and J. Harris (2103). Reported Uses of CropScape and the National Cropland Data Layer Program International Conference on Agricultural Statistics VI, Oct 23-25, Rio de Janerio, Brazil Posted 1/31/14.
• Seffrin, R., (2013). Evaluating the Accuracy Assessment Methods of a Thematic Raster through SAS Resampling Techniques and GTL Visualizations SAS Southeastern Users Group Meeting, Oct. 21-23, Tampa FL. Posted 1/31/14.
• Yang, Z. (2013). Exploring Continuous Corn Cropping Patterns and Their Relationship with Geographic Factors Proc. of the Second International Conference on Agro-Geoinformatics, pp 490- 494, Fairfax, Virginia, Aug. 12-16, 2013, DOI: 10.1109/Argo-Geoinformatics.2013.6621969 Posted 1/31/14.
• Han, W., L. Di, and Z. Yang, (2013). Developing geoprocessing service for Cropland Data Layer thematic map creation Proc. of the Second International Conference on Agro-Geoinformatics, Fairfax, Virginia, Aug. 12-16, 2013, pp 572-576. DOI: 10.1109/Argo-Geoinformatics.2013.6621941 Posted 7/22/14.
• Yang, Z., G. Yu, L. Di, B. Zhang, W. Han, and R. Mueller, (2013). Web Service-Based Vegetation Condition Monitoring System - VegScape Proc. of 2013 IEEE International Geoscience & Remote Sensing Symposium, Melbourne, Australia, July 21-26, pp 3638 - 3641 DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS.2013.6723618 Posted 1/31/14.
• Boryan C., and Z. Yang (2013). Deriving Crop Specific Covariate Data Sets From Multi-Year NASS Geospatial Cropland Data Layers, Proc. of the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2013, Melbourne, Australia, July 21-26, pp 4225 - 4228, DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS.2013.6723766. Posted 1/31/14.
• Yang, Z., R. Mueller, and W. Crowe, (2013). US National Cropland Soil Moisture Monitoring Using SMAP Proc. of IEEE International Geoscience & Remote Sensing Symposium, Melbourne, Australia, July 21-26, pp. 3746 - 3749, DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS.2013.6723645 Posted 1/31/14.
• USDA Blog by R. Mueller (2013). Bringing Ag Data to Life through Satellite Imagery Posted 5/1/13.
• Zakzeski, A., and R. Seffrin (2013). An Innovative Approach to Integrating SAS Macros with GIS Software Products to Produce County-Level Accuracy Assessments SAS Global Forum. Posted 1/31/14.

2012

• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, and L. Di, (2012). Deriving 2011 Cultivated Land Cover Data Sets Using USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Historic Cropland Data Layers. Proc. of IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 22-27, Munich, Germany, pp. 6297 - 6300, DOI 10.1109/IGARSS.2012.6352699. Posted 10/24/12.
• Johnson, D., (2012). A 2010 map estimate of annually tilled cropland within the conterminous United States. Agricultural Systems 114 (1), pp 95-105 doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2012.08.004,Posted 10/24/12.
• Boryan, C., and Z. Yang, (2012). A new land cover classification based stratification method for area sampling frame construction. Proc. of the First International Conference on Agro-Geoinformatics, Fairfax, Virginia, pp. 1-6 doi 10.1109/Agro-Geoinformatics.2012.6311727. Posted 7/22/14.
• Yu, G., L. Di, Z. Yang, Y. Shen, Z. Chen, and B. Zhang (2012). Corn growth stage estimation using time series vegetation index. Proc. of the First International Conference on Agro-Geoinformatics, Fairfax, Virginia pp. 1 -6, doi 10.1109/Agro-Geoinformatics.2012.6311631. Posted 7/22/14.
• Veregin H., and Ebinger, L., 133 map categories! How the US Department of Agriculture solved a complex cartographic design problem. Wisconsin State Cartographers Office, April 25, 2012, Posted 4/25/12.
• Han, W., Z. Yang, L. Di, and R. Mueller, (2012). CropScape: A Web service based application for exploring and disseminating US conterminous geospatial cropland data products for decision support. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 84 (6), pp. 111-123, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2012.03.005 Posted 4/9/12.
• Office of Management and Budget. March 7, 2012. Report to Congress on the Implementation of the E-Government Act of 2002 and CropScape citation excerpt. Posted 4/5/17.

2011

• Boryan, C., Z. Yang, R. Mueller, and M. Craig, (2011). Monitoring US Agriculture: the US Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Cropland Data Layer Program. GeoCarto Intl, 2011, 26 (5): 341-358, https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2011.562309. 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.
• 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.
• Wang, C., F. Fritschib, G. Staceyc and Z. Yang (2011). Phenology-Based Assessment of Perennial Energy Crops in North American Tallgrass Prairie. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 101 (4) pp. 742-751, https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2011.567934 Posted 7/22/2014.
• NASA press release Landsat Part of USDA’s CropScape Geospatial Data Service. Posted 5/24/2019.
• USDA Blog New Geospatial Data Service Now Available. Posted 1/11/2011.
• NASS press release for the new CDL visualization portal CropScape NASS Releases New Geospatial Data in CropScape.
• NASS press release Feb. 3, 2012 NASS Launches New CropScape Geospatial Data Service. Posted 1/10/2011.

2010

• Seffrin, R., Analysis and Visual Review of Error Matrices in SAS Stat Studio Southeast SAS Users Conference Savannah, GA on September 26-28. Posted 6/5/2015.
• Johnson, D., and R. Mueller, (2010). The 2009 Cropland Data Layer Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing November, pp 1201-1205.

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

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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

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