Land Capability for Agriculture (LCA)

The National scale land capability for agriculture spatial dataset provides information on the types of crops that may be grown in different areas dependent on environmental and soil characteristics. This map covers the entire country and it can be used to determine the areas most suited to growing crops or grazing livestock. 

The digital dataset contains information on the 'class' of soil. Soil classes range from Class 1 (land capable of producing a wide range of crops) to Class 7 (land of very little agricultural value). Land within Class 3 is subdivided to provide further information on potential yields; Classes 4 and 5 are further divided to provide information on grasslands; Class 6 is divided on the quality of the natural vegetation for grazing.  Classes 1 to 3.1 are known as prime agricultural land.

The Land Capability for Agriculture assessment was carried out in 1981 using data collected between 1978 and 1981.  The National scale land capability for agriculture map was then created in 1983 at a scale of 1:250 000. The map should be cited as: 'Soil Survey of Scotland Staff (1981). Land Capability for Agriculture maps of Scotland at a scale of 1:250 000. Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.10.5281/zenodo.6322683'.

There is an accompanying booklet that describes the classification in more detail and set out the rules and guidelines to be used. This booklet should be referenced as:  Bibby, J.S., Douglas, H.A., Thomasson, A.J. and Robertson, J.S. (1991) Land capability classification for agriculture. Soil Survey of Scotland Monograph. The Macaulay Institute for Soil Research. Aberdeen. ISBN -0-7084-0508-8.

The spatial dataset is provided under the James Hutton Institute open data licence included within the zipped dataset.

The maintenance of this dataset is funded by the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. The data can also be downloaded from or viewed at https://www.hutton.ac.uk/learning/natural-resource-datasets/soilshutton/soils-maps-scotland/download or viewed at  https://soils.environment.gov.scot.

THE CLASSES
Class 1. Land capable of producing a very wide range of crops with high yields
Class 2. Land capable of producing a wide range of crops with yields less high than Class 1.
Class 3. Land capable of producing good yields from a moderate range of crops.
Class 4. Land capable of producing a narrow range of crops.
Class 5. Land suited only to improved grassland and rough grazing.
Class 6. Land capable only of use as rough grazing.
Class 7. Land of very limited agricultural value.