A detailed land profile for any plot.
Soil, climate, water, hazards, flood zones, wetlands, roads, protected land, wildlife and land values, plus what would grow or graze there. Every number traced to its source.
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- Download a sample report (PDF, 56 pages)
What you get
The report's themes, in its order. Open one to see real data.
Land profile
The whole report in one table, each row linked to its source.
The land
Aerial photo, land cover, survey grid location, buildings, roads and five years of crop history.
Soil and ground
Texture, pH, USDA ratings, slope, and a contour map with relief, downhill arrows and water.
Climate and weather
Thirty years of weather: seasons, frost, growing degree days, rain, humidity, wind, year by year.
Water
Rainfall, soil moisture, drought history, rivers, lakes, streams, ponds and wetlands.
Risks
FEMA flood zone, river flooding, frost and heat, pest and disease indicators, nearby cleanup sites.
Nature and protected land
Public land, protected species habitat and reported wildlife.
Rules, rights and value
What farmland sells and rents for nearby, who decides zoning and water rights, and a title checklist.
What the land can produce
How many animals it could carry, and how well the field's shape suits machinery.
AgLand Profile models
83 crops scored for your plot, and cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry. Indicative.
Also in every report for a US plot
Data from named public sources, each in a section of its own with its source and date. They cover the 50 states, Puerto Rico and the other US territories; a few, such as the aerial photo and the crop history, cover the lower 48 states only, and a report says so where a source has nothing for a place. The example below is a real report for a plot in South Dakota.
Aerial photo
Aerial photo from USDA's NAIP survey.
Survey grid location
Township, range, section and quarter in the public land grid.
Roads, buildings and power
Nearest public road, buildings and farm features, power lines and towns.
Soil productivity
USDA productivity indexes and capability class.
Rangeland production
Forage per acre in a poor, normal and good year.
Ecological site
NRCS's name for the kind of land.
Contour map
Lines coloured by height over shaded relief, downhill arrows, and the water on it.
Streams, ponds and ditches
Every stream, ditch, pond and marsh on and around the plot.
Wetlands
Mapped wetlands and open water, set beside satellite land cover.
Drought history
How often the county has been in drought since 2000.
Flood zone
FEMA's flood map, set beside a river-flow model.
Contamination and neighbors
Registered cleanup sites, toxic release facilities and wind turbines.
Public and protected land
Public land, parks and easements near the plot.
Protected species habitat
Whether critical habitat touches the plot.
Wildlife sightings
Birds and mammals recorded nearby in ten years.
Crop history
Five years of what the satellite map shows, checked against a second service.
Land values and rents
State and county averages from USDA surveys. Never a valuation.
Who to ask, and what a report cannot tell you
Who decides zoning, permits, floods and water rights, and a checklist of title and lease questions.
Grazing capacity
From USDA rangeland data, set beside a climate-based estimate.
See it with real data
| Factor | Value | Band |
|---|---|---|
| Land cover Satellite land cover · ESA WorldCover Site overview | Cropland 68% | Mostly farmland |
| Survey grid location Township, range and section at the plot's center · BLM PLSS index Survey grid location | SE¼ of the NE¼, Section 8, T110N R50W | Located |
| Buildings on the plot Mapped buildings · OpenStreetMap Existing use and improvements | None mapped nearby | Bare land |
| Cropland history (USDA) Crop history · USDA Cropland Data Layer, 2021 to 2025 Crop history | Farmed in 5 of 5 years | Cropped |
| Road access Nearest public road · OpenStreetMap Access and infrastructure | A public road touches the plot (28th Avenue West), unpaved | Touches |
| Topsoil organic matter Top 30 cm · SoilGrids, plus the USDA survey in the US | 4.3% · USDA 2.4% | Good |
| Sand Top 30 cm · SoilGrids, plus the USDA survey in the US | 27% · USDA 34% | Moderate |
| Soil pH Top 30 cm · SoilGrids, plus the USDA survey in the US Soil | 6.9 · USDA 7.4 | Neutral |
| USDA productivity index (NCCPI) Crop productivity index · USDA soil survey, rated on 100% of the plot USDA productivity ratings | 0.49 of 1.00 | Moderately low |
| Rangeland production (USDA) Plant growth in a normal year · USDA soil survey Rangeland production | 3,872 lb/acre, normal year | High |
| NRCS ecological site Natural plant community of the main soil · NRCS soil survey Ecological site and forage group | Sandy (R102DY009SD) | Rangeland site |
| Elevation Elevation tiles · AWS Terrain Tiles | 1621 ft, relief 49 ft | Moderate |
| Slope Mean slope over the plot · AWS Terrain Tiles Terrain | 4% mean | Gentle |
| Frost pocket (cold air) Shape of the ground within 1.5 km · AWS Terrain Tiles, AgLand Profile index Frost pockets and cold air | Not indicated | Low |
| Summer heat Climate history · ERA5, 1991–2020 | 82 °F | Warm |
| Hardiness zone Climate history · ERA5, 1991–2020 | 4b | Very cold winters |
| Rain Climate history · ERA5, 1991–2020 | 28 in | Moderate |
| Humidity (warm season) Climate history · ERA5, 1991–2020 | 69% | Moderate |
| Frost-free season Climate history · ERA5, 1991–2020 | 158 days | Moderate |
| Growing degree days Climate history · ERA5, 1991–2020 | 1,441 (Winkler II) | Base 10 °C, Apr–Oct |
| Late-spring frost Climate history · ERA5, 1991–2020 | 100% of years | High |
| Extreme heat days (35 °C or more) Climate history · ERA5, 1991–2020 Climate | 1.1 per year | Low |
| Wind and exposure Hourly wind at 10 m · ERA5, 2011–2020 Wind and exposure | 16 km/h average, mostly from the S | Windy |
| Drought history County drought maps · US Drought Monitor, 2000 to 2026 Drought history | 21.3% of weeks in drought since 2000 | Moderate |
| Proximity to water Nearest mapped river, canal or lake · OpenStreetMap Water: proximity, streams and ponds | Big Sioux River, 3.4 km | Medium |
| Mapped wetlands Mapped wetlands · US Fish and Wildlife Service, photos from 1984 Wetlands | 3.8% of the plot | Minor |
| Hazards Highest hazard rating · AgLand Profile bands on ERA5, GloFAS and USGS data | Late spring frost, Flooding (FEMA flood map) | High |
| FEMA flood zone Flood zone · FEMA, effective 2025-04-23 Natural hazards | 11.6% in the 100-year floodplain | Medium |
| Disease pressure (leaf wetness) Warm-season leaf-wetness hours · ERA5, 1991–2020 Pest and disease | 558 h | Medium |
| Contamination and neighbors Registered sites and neighbors · EPA, USGS Contamination and neighbors | None on record nearby | None on record |
| Public & protected land Public and protected land · USGS PAD-US 4.1 Public and protected land | Nearest: Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), Brookings, SD, 1.7 mi | Nearby |
| Critical habitat (USFWS) Critical habitat · US Fish and Wildlife Service Protected species habitat | None mapped within 3.1 mi | None mapped |
| Wildlife reported (GBIF) Reported sightings · GBIF, 2016 to 2026 Wildlife sightings | 233 bird and mammal species, 2016 to 2026 | Well recorded |
| Cash rent, non-irrigated cropland Average cash rent · USDA NASS Land values and rents | $220 an acre (2025, county average) | Benchmark |
| Crop fit AgLand Profile model · climate, soil, terrain and water Crop fit | Alfalfa (lucerne) 91 (top score) | Strong fit |
| Livestock fit AgLand Profile model · climate, water, soil and terrain Livestock fit | Pigs, outdoor or pasture-raised 87 (top score) | Strong fit |
In the full report, every row links to its own section and opens its source, method and raw data.
Sources you can trust
Public data from government agencies, space agencies and research groups. Open one to see why we trust it. AgLand Profile is independent and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any agency or data provider named here.
ERA5 climate reanalysisIntergovernmental/EU program
ECMWF for the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service; Open-Meteo redistributes it
Used for: Temperature, rain, humidity, cloud, evapotranspiration, hardiness, growing degree days, frost, chill and leaf-wetness hours, the year-by-year record, wind speed, direction and gusts, soil moisture, and the disease screening.
Why it is reliable: ERA5 is produced by ECMWF, an independent intergovernmental weather organization, for the European Union's Copernicus programme. It blends decades of real observations (weather stations, satellites, balloons, aircraft) with a physical weather model, and it is one of the most widely used climate datasets in research and by national weather services. Open-Meteo is an independent open-source service that delivers the data through a simple interface without changing the values.
Where it falls short: A 0.25° grid cell (about 25 km) smooths local extremes and cold-air pockets. These are modeled values, not readings from a station on your land.
License: CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus) · Source website
SoilGrids 2.0Globally recognized scientific organization
ISRIC – World Soil Information
Used for: Topsoil sand, silt, clay, pH, organic carbon, cation exchange capacity and coarse fragments, read from ISRIC's web service or, when that is down, from the same maps in its published files.
Why it is reliable: ISRIC is an independent foundation in the Netherlands with a long-standing mandate for soil information and is a recognized data center for the international soil community. SoilGrids is described in a peer-reviewed scientific paper and is widely used in agricultural and environmental research.
Where it falls short: These are machine-learning predictions from soil profile records and satellite data at 250 m, with real uncertainty, and they are the weakest where soil samples are sparse. Only one cell is read per report. A lab test is the real answer.
License: CC BY 4.0 · Source website
USDA soil survey (SSURGO)Government agency
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Used for: For sites in the United States: the soil map unit at the site and across the area, its main soils, topsoil texture, pH, organic matter and CEC, drainage, land capability class and subclass, farmland class, flooding, water storage and depth to bedrock, plus USDA's National Commodity Crop Productivity Index (NCCPI) with its corn, soybean, cotton and small-grain sub-ratings.
Why it is reliable: SSURGO is the official US soil survey. Soil scientists walked the land, dug and described soil profiles, and drew the boundaries between soils, and NRCS publishes the results. It is the standard reference for US farm programs and land-use planning.
Where it falls short: Each value is an average for a mapped area that usually holds several soils, plus small patches of others, so it is not a measurement at your exact spot. Survey age and detail differ by county, and some areas (built-up land, water, some public land) are only roughly described. The NCCPI rates cropland productivity only, so range, forest and wetland soils often have no rating or a very low one; the report counts a missing rating as missing, never as zero. It covers the United States only.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
AWS Terrain Tiles (Terrarium)Government agency
Elevation data compiled by NASA (SRTM) and the U.S. Geological Survey (3DEP), with national mapping agencies outside the US; tiles assembled by Mapzen and hosted in the AWS Open Data program
Used for: Elevation, slope, slope direction and the elevation and slope map layers.
Why it is reliable: The heights come from public elevation models produced by space and mapping agencies, such as NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and the U.S. Geological Survey, blended with national datasets. The tiles are published in the AWS Open Data registry so anyone can check them.
Where it falls short: Roughly 15 to 30 m detail. Trees and buildings can affect heights, and different source models are blended, so small terraces and ditches are not resolved.
License: Public domain in the United States (USGS 3DEP and NASA SRTM, courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey). Outside the US, each national source model has its own attribution terms. · Source website
ESA WorldCover 2021Space agency
European Space Agency and a consortium of research partners
Used for: Land-cover shares (cropland, forest, built-up, water) and the land-cover map layer.
Why it is reliable: WorldCover is a global 10 m map made by the European Space Agency from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite images. ESA publishes an independent validation report with its accuracy figures, and the product is used by governments and researchers.
Where it falls short: Accuracy is good but not perfect (ESA reports roughly three quarters of pixels correct overall, and cropland is harder to map than forest or water). It shows land use in 2021, not the crop that grows there.
License: CC BY 4.0 · Source website
OpenStreetMap (Overpass and Nominatim)Foundation
OpenStreetMap contributors, supported by the OpenStreetMap Foundation
Used for: Place names and address search, rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs, and the base map.
Why it is reliable: OpenStreetMap is a global map maintained by millions of contributors and used by governments, humanitarian agencies and large companies. Where mapping is dense (Europe, North America) rivers and lakes are usually well covered, and every edit is public and can be checked.
Where it falls short: Community mapped, so coverage varies by region. Small streams and seasonal water can be missing or out of date.
License: ODbL. Attribution to OpenStreetMap contributors is required. · Source website
Natural Earth 1:50m coastlineCartographic society (NACIS)
Natural Earth, a public-domain map dataset supported by the cartographic community (NACIS)
Used for: Distance to the sea, and the outline of the United States and its territories that decides whether a place gets the US sections.
Why it is reliable: Natural Earth is a long-running, carefully edited public-domain map dataset used in atlases and GIS teaching worldwide.
Where it falls short: A generalized coastline at 1:50 million scale, so distances are accurate to a few kilometers.
License: Public domain · Source website
GloFAS river dischargeIntergovernmental/EU program
ECMWF and the EU Joint Research Centre for the Copernicus Emergency Management Service
Used for: The river flooding indicator.
Why it is reliable: The Global Flood Awareness System is part of the EU's Copernicus Emergency Management Service and is used by civil-protection agencies for flood forecasting. It simulates river flow worldwide.
Where it falls short: A river-model cell of about 5 km, which may represent a nearby larger river or a small stream. It is an indicator, not a flood-zone map. Check official flood maps before buying.
License: CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus, Open-Meteo) · Source website
USGS Earthquake Catalog (ComCat)Government agency
U.S. Geological Survey
Used for: The earthquake indicator.
Why it is reliable: The U.S. Geological Survey is a U.S. federal science agency. Its catalog combines data from seismic networks around the world and is a standard reference for earthquake history.
Where it falls short: Completeness varies by region and time. Small earthquakes outside the United States may be missing. It shows history, not a hazard model.
License: Public domain · Source website
NAIP aerial photographyGovernment agency
USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), served by the USGS National Map
Used for: For sites in the United States: the aerial photograph of your plot and its surroundings, with the plot outline drawn over it.
Why it is reliable: NAIP is flown by the US government every two to three years in the growing season, for farm programs, and the photographs are published free of copyright. The report shows a real photograph, not a drawn map, so you can see fields, buildings, trees and water for yourself.
Where it falls short: It is a picture from one day, taken in summer, and the date differs by county (the report shows it). It does not show what is there today, such as new buildings, this year's crops or recent flooding. Some places have no photograph in this service (Alaska, Hawaii and the territories, for example), and a photograph is not a survey: edges and boundaries are not exact.
License: Public domain (US government imagery) · Source website
FEMA National Flood Hazard LayerGovernment agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Used for: For sites in the United States: which FEMA flood zones your plot falls in and what share of it each covers, the map panel and the date the map took effect.
Why it is reliable: These are the official flood maps behind the National Flood Insurance Program. Lenders and insurers use the same zones to decide whether flood insurance is required, so they carry weight a computer model cannot.
Where it falls short: Flood maps are made for insurance, not as a forecast. They can be out of date (the report shows the effective date) and many rural areas have no digital map at all, which the report says plainly. Zone X means outside the mapped 100-year floodplain, not no risk. The share of your plot in each zone is measured on a grid of points, so it is accurate to a few percent. Smaller streams, drainage and local flooding are often not mapped.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
National Wetlands InventoryGovernment agency
US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Used for: For sites in the United States: the wetlands and open water mapped on your plot (marsh, swamp, farmed wetland, ponds, lakes, streams), the share of your plot each covers, the nearest mapped wetland when none is on the plot, and the year of the photographs the map was drawn from.
Why it is reliable: The NWI is the federal government's national wetland map, made by trained photo interpreters from aerial photographs. Planners, the Army Corps of Engineers and conservation agencies use it as the starting point for wetland questions.
Where it falls short: It is a map made from photographs that are often decades old (the report shows the year), not a legal wetland delineation. Wetlands may have been drained, built on or newly formed since, small or seasonal ones are often missed, and a place with none mapped can still have wetland. Only the Army Corps of Engineers (and, for farm programs, NRCS) can say officially whether land is a regulated wetland.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
PAD-US protected areas databaseGovernment agency
US Geological Survey (USGS), Gap Analysis Project
Used for: For sites in the United States: the public and protected land that lies on your plot or within 3 km of it (parks, forests, refuges, wilderness, conservation easements), who manages it, whether the public may enter, and how strongly it is protected.
Why it is reliable: PAD-US is the official national inventory of public parks and other protected open space, maintained by the USGS from the records of federal, state and local agencies and conservation groups.
Where it falls short: It is a compiled inventory, not a survey. Boundaries come from many different agencies and are usually good to tens of metres, not exact. Some land (small local parks, some state trust land, some private conservation land) is missing or out of date, so an empty list does not mean there is none. "Open access" is a general designation: it does not mean you may cross neighboring private land to reach it, and it does not show roads or rights of way. It does not show private parcels, so it cannot tell you who owns your plot.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
Cropland Data Layer (USDA image service)Government agency
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
Used for: For sites in the lower 48 states: what crop each year's map shows on your plot and on the land within 1 km of it, for the last five years, read from USDA's own image service.
Why it is reliable: The CDL is NASS's annual crop map of the country, made from satellite images and checked against Farm Service Agency crop reports. It is the standard public record of what has been grown where.
Where it falls short: It is a classification of satellite images at 30 m (10 m from 2024), not a record of what a farmer planted. It is strong for the large crops (corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton) and weaker for hay, pasture and small plantings, and a field edge can fall within a cell of the wrong class. The newest year is released about a year behind. It does not cover Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
CropScapeUniversity research center
Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, George Mason University, for USDA NASS
Used for: A second reading of the same Cropland Data Layer, for the plot's bounding rectangle, set against USDA's image service. It also fills in a year if USDA's service does not answer.
Why it is reliable: CropScape is the long-standing public web service for the CDL, built by George Mason University for NASS. Two services over the same data catch a service that is down or a reading that went wrong.
Where it falls short: It can only read a rectangle, not the plot's outline, so its figures include neighboring land. It is run by a university research center with no published uptime promise, and is sometimes slow or down; when it does not answer, the report says the check was not made.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
USFWS critical habitatGovernment agency
US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Used for: For sites in the United States: whether the plot lies inside, or within 5 km of, habitat that USFWS has designated or proposed as critical habitat for a species listed under the Endangered Species Act, with the species, its listing status and the year of the designation.
Why it is reliable: Critical habitat is the official map of the areas the federal government has found essential to a listed species' recovery. It matters for federal permits, funding and Army Corps wetland approvals.
Where it falls short: A designation limits federal actions, not private land use as such, and it says nothing about whether the species is actually on a given plot: a plot outside any critical habitat can still hold a protected species, and a plot inside may not. Boundaries are generalized for reading, designations change, and stream or river habitat may be drawn as narrow strips. For any building, drainage or permitting question, ask the USFWS field office for the state.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
GBIF species recordsIntergovernmental/EU program
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
Used for: The number of bird and mammal species reported near the plot in the last 10 years, the most-reported species, and the datasets the records come from, counting only records licensed CC0 or CC BY.
Why it is reliable: GBIF is the international open archive of species sightings and specimen records. It pools observations from naturalists, eBird and museums, and lets anyone see what has been reported where.
Where it falls short: It shows where people have looked and reported, not what lives there: a rarely visited place looks empty, and a popular spot looks rich. Most bird records come from eBird, which is far thinner for mammals. Records licensed for non-commercial use only, or with no license stated, are left out and their number is shown, so the counts are lower than everything reported. It does not show hunting quality, game numbers or the absence of any species.
License: CC0 1.0 and CC BY 4.0 records only (credit the contributing datasets) · Source website
EPA Facility Registry ServiceGovernment agency
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Used for: Superfund (National Priorities List) sites, brownfield sites and toxic-release facilities near the plot, with the distance and direction of each.
Why it is reliable: EPA keeps the national register of regulated and cleanup sites, and the Superfund list is the federal government's own list of the most serious contaminated sites. The records are public and tied to each site's EPA page.
Where it falls short: It lists registered sites only. Contamination that was never reported, small spills, old dumps, fuel tanks and farm chemical storage are not in it, so none mapped does not mean none exists. Points are a site's reference location and can be off by some distance.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
US Wind Turbine DatabaseGovernment agency
US Geological Survey with the Department of Energy and the American Clean Power Association
Used for: Wind turbines near the plot, grouped by wind project, with the number of turbines, the year built and the height.
Why it is reliable: The database is built by the USGS from aerial imagery and industry records and is the standard public list of US wind turbines, updated regularly.
Where it falls short: It covers onshore utility-scale turbines only, not small farm turbines, and new or planned projects can be missing for a time.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
USGS National Hydrography DatasetGovernment agency
US Geological Survey (USGS)
Used for: Streams (perennial, intermittent and ephemeral), ditches and canals, ponds, lakes and marshes on and near the plot, from the large-scale map.
Why it is reliable: The NHD is the federal government's map of surface water, drawn from aerial photographs and field work at 1:24,000 scale or finer, and used by agencies for water planning.
Where it falls short: It was drawn from photographs and older maps, so small streams, new ponds and ditches can be missing or have moved, and an intermittent stream may be dry for most of the year. It does not give water rights or whether you may use the water.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
US Drought MonitorGovernment agency
National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), USDA and NOAA
Used for: How often the plot's county has been in drought, week by week since 2000, which years were worst, and this week's map.
Why it is reliable: The Drought Monitor is the weekly federal drought map. Experts combine rainfall, soil moisture, stream flow and local reports, and USDA and the US government use it to decide on drought aid.
Where it falls short: It is made for whole counties and regions, not single fields, and it describes drought, not how much water your own soil holds. A county can be in drought while one farm is not.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
US Census Bureau geocoderGovernment agency
US Census Bureau
Used for: The county and state that contain the plot's center, which the drought history, land value and "who to ask" readings depend on.
Why it is reliable: The Census Bureau defines the counties used in federal statistics, and its geocoder answers which county a point is in.
Where it falls short: It answers for one point (the center of the plot). A plot that straddles a county line is reported in the county of its center, so check the county of the parcel you mean.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
BLM Public Land Survey System indexGovernment agency
US Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with the states that steward the data
Used for: The township, range, section and quarter-quarter section of the plot's center, and the sections the outline touches, where the land was surveyed in the public land survey grid.
Why it is reliable: The PLSS is the federal grid of townships, ranges and sections that most western and midwestern deeds describe land by. The BLM's national index assembles each state's survey records into one map.
Where it falls short: It is an index for mapping, drawn from survey records and local data, not a survey and not a legal description: the deed and a licensed surveyor give the legal description. Some places are missing or approximate, and Texas, the original thirteen states and some other land were not surveyed this way.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
USDA NASS land values and cash rentsGovernment agency
US Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
Used for: The state's average value of farm real estate (cropland, pasture and all farm real estate) and the average cash rent for non-irrigated cropland, irrigated cropland and pasture, for the last five years, and the county's cash rents where NASS published them.
Why it is reliable: NASS runs the federal surveys of what farmland sells for and rents for. Their published averages are the standard yardstick that lenders, extension services and farm economists compare against.
Where it falls short: Averages for a whole state or county from a survey, shown as published. Your plot's soil, access, buildings, water and location make it worth more or less, and a county figure can be missing where too few farms answered. It is not a valuation, an appraisal or a comparable sale. This product uses the NASS API but is not endorsed or certified by NASS.
License: Public domain (US government data) · Source website
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