Land Use Strata - Selected States

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) area sampling frame is a delineation of all parcels of land for the purpose of later sampling the parcels. The area frame is constructed by visually interpreting satellite imagery to divide a state into homogenous land use areas (strata) based on percent cultivated. The strata are typically defined as low, medium or high percent cultivated, non-agricultural land, urban use, agri-urban, or water. The boundaries of the strata usually follow identifiable features such as roads, railroads and waterways. The strata boundaries do not coincide with any political boundaries, with the exception of state boundaries. This site provides links to download ESRI shape and symbology layer files, as well as low resolution JPEG or higher resolution PDF images for each state. Also included in the FAQ are how to cite the data set, time period, how geographic features are represented and described, originators and contributors, contacts to address questions about the data, how the data set was created (previous works, e.g. USGS topographic quadrangles, US Census Bureau, space imagery, etc.), data generation-, processing-, and modification methods, and similar or related data. Applicable legal restrictions on access or use of the data and disclaimers are provided.

Resources in this dataset:
Resource Title: Land Use Strata - Selected States.
File Name: Web Page, url: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Research_and_Science/stratafront2b.php
This site provides links to download ESRI shape and symbology layer files, as well as low resolution JPEG or higher resolution PDF images for each state.