Agricultural land use mapping

The author has identified the following significant results. Agricultural areas were selected or analysis in southeastern Pennsylvania, north central Montana, and southern Texas. These three sites represent a broad range of soils, soil parent materials, climate, modes of agricultural operation, crops, and field sizes. In each of these three sites, ERTS-1 digital data were processed to determine the feasibility of automatically mapping agricultural land use. In Pennsylvania, forest land, cultivated land, and water were separable within a 25,000 acre area. Four classes of water were also classified and identified, using ground truth. A less complex land use pattern was analyzed in Hill County, Montana. A land use map was prepared shown alternating patterns of summer fallow and stubble fields. The location of farmsteads could be inferred, along with that of a railroad line. A river and a creek flowing into the river were discernible. Six categories of water, related to sediment content and depth, were defined in the reservoir held by the Fresno dam. These classifications were completed on a 150 square mile area. Analysis of the data from Texas is in its formative stages. A test site has been selected and a brightness map has been produced

Agricultural land-use and biological conservation

Land use change is a main driver of biodiversity erosion, especially in agricultural landscapes. Incentive-based land-use policies aim at influence land-use pattern, and are usually evaluated with habitat suitability scores, without accounting explicitly for the ecology of the studied population. In this paper, we propose a methodology to define and evaluate agricultural land-use policies with respect to their ecological outcomes directly. We use an ecological-economic model to link the regional abundance of a bird species to the economic context. Policies based on such ecological economics approaches appear to be more efficient than that based on landscape evaluation, from both economic and ecological viewpoints.Ecological-economic model, agriculture, land-use, landscape, conservation

AN ASSESSMENT OF URBAN AGRICULTURAL LAND USE CHANGES USING GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY OF JOS-BUKURU

The urban agricultural land use change of Jos-Bukuru between 1961 and 2002 is assessed. The aim is to generate relevant, accurate and timely data that would enhance the quality of decisions and actions in an attempt to ensure the survival, expansion and the sustainability of urban agricultural land use. A geospatial information system approach was adopted in the mapping and assessment of urban agricultural land use change in the study area Topographic map of Jos-Bukuru urban at the scale of 1:50000, Landsat TM image of 1986 and 2002 with spatial resolution of 30m, among others. Data conversion, digitizing, editing, analysis was carried out using ILWIS 3.2 and Arc-View 3.2 software. The study reveals among others that agricultural land use increased substantially between 1961 and 1986. However, between 1986 and 2002, about 63% of agricultural land was lost. Out of this, about 68% was lost to urban development. The percentage increase in urban in urban expansion was 3.5% from 1961 to 1986 and 3.8% from 1986 to 2002. While the percentage in urban agricultural land use between 1986 and 2002 was 3.9%. Overall, while urban spatial expansion is increasing agricultural land use is decreasing. The study recommends among others that urban agricultural land use should be made a legitimate in urban expansion planning; specific agricultural practices should be zoned to specific locations within the city; and, that urban farming should be incorporated into the poverty alleviation programme of the Federal governmentLand Economics/Use,

Agricultural land use in Danish organic pig production

In Denmark the organic sows farrow outdoor on pasture (picture 1) and the gestation sows are outdoor from 15 April to 1 November on pasture (picture 2). Some farmers also keep their weaned piglets on outdoor pasture (picture 3). In the project pEcosystem data from five herds have delivered their crop plan for 2016. This gives unique information on the land use in Danish organic pig production

Watershed-scale agricultural land-use impact on instream physicochemical parameters

Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is often the result of runoff losses from agricultural or urban areas. Even though the watershed approach to controlling NPS pollution is identified as the most efficient approach, data linking watershed scale land use and specific water quality implications are very limited. The objective of this study was to quantify the impact of agricultural land use on stream physico-chemical properties. The upper reach of Flint Creek was monitored at two sampling points draining an agricultural land. At each of these points, continuous measurement of stream characteristics such as temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, depth, pH, and conductivity were taken at three different dates. Also, water samples were collected and analyzed for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations to discern the impact of agricultural land use on water quality. The results indicated that nitrate N (NO3-N) and phosphate P (PO4-P) concentrations increased as the agricultural land use increased in the watershed. Fluctuation in the DO concentration also increased with higher agricultural land use. In order to help decrease the amount of nutrients introduced to the stream, a variety of best management practices (BMPs) could be implemented in the watershe

AGRICULTURAL LAND USE CHOICE: A DISCRETE CHOICE APPROACH

A discrete choice model and site-specific data are used to analyze land use choices between crop production and pasture in the Corn Belt. The results show that conversion probabilities depend on relative returns, land quality, and government policy. In general it is found that landowners are less inclined to remove land from crop production than to convert land to crop production.Land Economics/Use,

AGRICULTURAL LAND USE POLICY: SOME PERSPECTIVES AND OBSERVATIONS

Land Economics/Use,

A system of regional agricultural land use mapping tested against small scale Apollo 9 color infrared photography of the Imperial Valley (California)

System of regional agricultural land use mapping tested against Apollo 9 color infrared photography of Imperial Valley, Calif

Towards national reporting on agricultural land use change in Australia

This report provides the latest available information on national land use and land use change in Australia.SummaryLand use describes the purposes assigned to land. It refers to the purpose for which the land is committed. It is fundamental to understanding landscapes, agricultural production and the management of natural resources. Land use can include the production of goods (such as crops, timber and manufactures) and services (such as defence, recreations, biodiversity and natural resources protection). It also includes urban and rural settlement. Land use choices have a major effect on food production, the natural environment and communities.Land use change is central to much current debate in Australia around agriculture and food and fibre security, forestry, water management, mining, climate change mitigation and adaptation, population, urban expansion, biodiversity protection, community development and landscape aesthetics.This report provides the latest available information on national land use and land use change. It draws heavily on the ABARES time series of national scale land use maps and Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) agricultural statistics as these are the most reliable and consistent for reporting on land use change at the national level. The strength of the ABARES national scale land use maps is that they combine ABS agricultural statistics with other land use information into one complete spatial dataset for Australia.The broad trends in agricultural land use change are as follows:Agriculture remains Australia\u27s dominant land use, covering around 456 million hectares (ha) or 59 per cent of the continent in 2005‐06, a decrease of around 18.8 million ha (4 per cent of the agricultural area) since 1992‐93.The most common agricultural land use by area is grazing on native vegetation and modified pastures which occupies 428 million ha or around 56 per cent of Australia and occurs mostly in the arid and semi‐arid regions of inland Australia.The area of grazing decreased by 6 per cent between 1992‐93 and 2005‐06. Over the same period, the area of land used for cropping increased by 39 per cent to 27 million ha (3.5 per cent of Australia’s land area). These changes vary across the country, see Maps S1 and S2.In 2005‐06, areas of minimal use, nature conservation and other protected areas including Indigenous uses occupied around 282 million hectares or 37 per cent of Australia. Based on the Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database (CAPAD), between 1992‐93 and 2005‐ 06, the area of formal nature conservation increased by 15 million ha (37 per cent). In some regions, decreases in the area of land used for grazing are associated with increases in the area of land used for cropping and nature conservation although locations where direct conversions from one land use to another have occurred cannot be identified from the national‐scale data reviewed in this report.The number of farm businesses decreased from 144 860 in 1997‐98 to 135 447 in 2010‐11. However, decreases by farm size were only reflected in the medium (50 to 2 500 ha) category. The number of large farms (greater than 2 500 ha) and small farms (less than 50 ha) both increased between 1997‐98 and 2010‐11. Changes in farm size can arise from a range of factors including pressures to increase economic productivity and efficiency as well as sub‐division for peri‐urban lifestyle blocks or for more intensive production.While the growth in peri‐urban areas (those that lie on the fringe of the major built‐up areas of cities) can compete with agricultural land and the loss of agricultural land to urban growth is important, these changes do not necessarily translate into a decrease in the value of agricultural production. The Melbourne Statistical Division, for example, had only 2 per cent of the total area of Victoria\u27s agricultural holdings in 2010‐11, but this area produced 13.4 per cent ($1.2 billion) of the State’s agricultural commodities by value. Mining is also expanding into agricultural lands and some new coal seam gas developments occur in areas of high value agricultural activity.While the national picture suggests relatively modest changes in area for key land uses (grazing, cropping and nature conservation) over the period 1992‐93 to 2005‐06, regional land use change patterns can vary significantly from national trends. Over the longer term the impacts of increased climate variability and population pressure may strongly impact the location of agricultural and non‐agricultural activities. Changes in the location of traditional agricultural activities (grazing and cropping) are already emerging. Australia is improving its capacity to track land use change, drawing on information sources including satellite remote sensing and statistical collections. The next national scale land use map, based on 2010‐11 agricultural census information, is due for release by ABARES late in 2013 and will provide the opportunity to analyse change across the country for a number of key land uses (grazing, cropping and conservation) from 1992‐93 to 2010‐11. It will also be possible to analyse change for a wider range of land uses between 2005‐06 and 2010‐11. This is being developed by the Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program (ACLUMP), a consortium of national and state agencies coordinated by ABARES. Authored by Jodie Mewett, Justyna Paplinska, Georgina Kelley, Rob Lesslie, Phil Pritchard and Christine Atyeo

Mapping of agricultural land use from ERTS-1 digital data

A study area was selected in Lancaster and Lebanon Counties, two of the major agricultural counties in Pennsylvania. This area was delineated on positive transparencies on MSS data collected on October 11, 1972 (1080-15185). Channel seven was used to delineate general land forms, drainage patterns, water and urban areas. Channel five was used to delineate highway networks. These identifiable features were useful aids for locating areas on the computer output. Computer generated maps were used to delineate broad land use categories, such as forest land, agricultural land, urban areas and water. These digital maps have a scale of approximately 1:24,000 thereby allowing direct comparison with U.S.G.S. 7.5 minute quadrangle sheets. Aircraft data were used as a form of ground truth useful for the delineation of land use patterns