Farm Action Toolkit (FAcT-USA): Multi-Year Cropland Extent, Crop Type, and Planting Date Dataset for the United States Derived from Earth Observation

The Farm Action Toolkit (FAcT-USA) is an Earth observation–driven agricultural monitoring framework designed to generate scalable, multi-year datasets on cropland extent, crop type, and planting dynamics across the United States. This dataset provides spatially explicit information derived from satellite observations and phenology-guided analytical approaches to support agricultural decision-making, drought monitoring, and crop modeling applications. Planting date is represented as day of year (DOY) and is a key determinant of crop growth progression, water demand, drought exposure, and yield sensitivity. The dataset integrates multi-sensor satellite data, including Landsat and Harmonized Landsat–Sentinel (HLS), with vegetation indices such as NDVI and NDWI to capture crop development signals. Planting timing is estimated using a phenology-guided framework that leverages temporal dynamics in vegetation growth, enabling consistent detection across large geographic areas without reliance on dense ground observations. The dataset includes multi-scale geospatial products designed for interoperability with modeling and decision-support systems: Field-scale (30 m) raster maps of planting date (DOY) Cropland extent maps (crop vs. non-crop classification) Crop-specific distribution layers (e.g., corn extent) Aggregated planting date products at Census block group and county levels (raster and vector formats) These products are intended to support applications such as agricultural monitoring, irrigation planning, drought risk assessment, and integration with crop and hydrological models (e.g., DSSAT, GridDSSAT, and land surface models). Current Version (v1.0) This release includes data for the state of Alabama for the 2024 growing season, including: Corn planting date maps (DOY) at 30 m resolution Cropland extent and corn distribution maps Aggregated planting date datasets at Census block group and county levels Future Updates This is a versioned dataset that will be expanded to include multiple years, additional crop types, and broader geographic coverage across the United States. Data Contents and File Description The dataset is organized into raster and vector products representing cropland extent, crop distribution, and planting date estimates at multiple spatial scales. File naming follows a consistent convention to indicate variable, spatial unit, and year. Raster Datasets (GeoTIFF) AL_CornPlantingDOY_2024_Statewide.tifField-scale (30 m) raster of corn planting dates across Alabama for 2024, expressed as day of year (DOY). AL_BlockGroup_CornPlantingDOY_2024_Raster.tifCensus block group–level aggregated planting date raster, where pixel values represent mean DOY within each block group. AL_County_CornPlantingDOY_2024_Raster.tifCounty-level aggregated planting date raster representing mean planting date (DOY) per county. AL_Combined_Crop_Map_2024.tifCropland extent map (binary classification), where:1 = Cropland0 = Non-cropland AL_Combined_Corn_Map_2024.tifCorn distribution map (binary classification), where:1 = Corn0 = Non-corn Vector Datasets (Shapefile and CSV) AL_County_CornPlantingDOY_2024.shp / .csvCounty-level dataset containing aggregated planting date statistics.Key attribute: doy_mean: Mean planting date (DOY) AL_BlockGroup_CornPlantingDOY_2024.shp / .csvCensus block group–level dataset with aggregated planting date values.Key attribute: doy_mean: Mean planting date (DOY)