Agricultural Land may be defined broadly as land used primarily for production of food and fiber. On satellite imagery, the chief indications of agricultural activity are distinctive geometric field and road patterns on the landscape and the traces produced by livestock or mechanized equipment. However, pasture and other lands where such equipment is used infrequently may not show as well-defined shapes as other areas. The number of building complexes is smaller and the density of the road and highway network is much lower in Agricultural land than in Urban or Built-up Land.
The interface of Agricultural Land with other categories of land use may sometimes be a transition zone in which there is an intermixture of land uses at first and second levels of categorization. Where farming activities are limited by wetness, the exact boundary also may be difficult to locate, and Agricultural Land may grade into Wetland. When the production of agricultural crops is not hindered by wetland conditions, such cropland should be included in the Agricultural category. This latter stipulation also includes those
cases in which agricultural crop production depends on wetland conditions, such as the flooding of rice fields or the development of cranberry bogs. When lands produce economic commodities as a function of their wild state such as wild rice, cattails, or certain forest products commonly associated with wetland, however, they should be included in a Wetland category. Similarly, when wetlands are drained for agricultural purposes, they should be included in the Agricultural Land category. When such drainage enterprises fall in to disuse and if wetland vegetation is reestablished, the land reverts to a Wetland category.
Where more specific agricultural uses are known, the appropriate codes are used (11201-11213). The 11200 type was applied when these uses were not known or where they were too intermixed to separate.
DISTRIBUTION:
This type occurs throughout California but is most widespread in and adjacent to the Great Central Valley and to a lesser extent in coastal plains and valleys.
Source: Modified by the California Gap Analysis Project from Anderson et al., 1976.