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America has always been a fertile land:

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grasslands and forests and farms from sea to shining sea.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture tracks how many acres

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and the annual yield for every crop produced.

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From the big ones like corn, wheat, soy.

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To regional crops like cotton, rice, citrus.

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They track every year, using data from Landsat satellites and others,

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combined with data from surveys on the ground.

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Landsat satellites see detail at the human scale,

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about the size of a baseball diamond,

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and can image individual farm fields.

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The program started in 1997,with North Dakota, as an experiment.

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Other states became interested and the program grew.

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In 2008, Landsat data became free to use

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and the USDA could afford to map forty-eight states.

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During the growing season the data helps estimate crop yields,

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which helps farmers and traders set prices for the harvest.

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Thanks to Landsat’s detailed view,

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the USDA tabulates stats crop by crop,

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county by county, and state by state.

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At the end of each year,

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the data set is released to the public

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and it is a beautiful sight.

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The patchwork of corn (in yellow)

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and soybeans (in green) in the midwest.

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The diversity of crops in California’s central valley.

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The clusters of citrus in Florida

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and California and Texas.

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We can see changes in farming through the years.

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The easiest to see is crop rotation in the mid-west,

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cycling between corn and soybeans.

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In northern North Dakota,

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there was a shift from barley and wheat

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to soybeans and canola.

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And we see an increase in cotton fields (shown in red)

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in Texas and Oklahoma.

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Thanks to the free and open access to Landsat data,

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the US Department of Agriculture is providing our farmers with accurate data

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and helping maintain our nation’s food supply.

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