Cover Crops across Europe

Despite the growing importance given to cover crops as a sustainable agricultural practice, the availability of spatial data about them is scarce. The best information available is regionally aggregated survey data, which, although indicative, hinders the development of spatially accurate studies. Using a disaggregation model, we combined satellite data (Sentinel-1) with aggregated survey data to generate a high-resolution map of cover crops for Europe and the United Kingdom for the reference year of 2016. The map was validated with parcel-level data in France, where overall good results were found, with regional variations.