A 30 m winter wheat distribution dataset for the North China Plain from 2000 to 2024

Winter wheat is one of the most important food crops in China, and the North China Plain (NCP), as a major production area, plays a critical role in ensuring national food security. This study produced a 30 m resolution winter wheat distribution dataset for the NCP (WinterWheatNCP) from 2000 to 2024 by combining automated training sample generation with a random forest classifier, and estimated the regional unbiased winter wheat planted area using a stratified random sampling approach. Validation results show that the produced maps achieved an average overall accuracy (OA) of 95.98 ± 1.15 %, and an average F1 score of 86.4 %. The estimated planted areas show a consistent temporal trend with official statistics, increasing from 18.6 ± 1.44 million hectares (Mha) in 2000 to 19.41 ± 1.36 Mha in 2023. Furthermore, the mapped winter wheat areas show strong correlation to agricultural statistics at the provincial (R² = 0.97–0.98) and municipal (R² = 0.84–0.96) levels, highlighting the potential of WheatMapNCP to provide reliable sub-national winter wheat area information and to support timely and transparent monitoring of crop dynamics in regions with incomplete or missing statistical data.