USDA Cropland Data Layer API

What you can build

Original compressed national and Hawaii crop-classification rasters with authoritative class/color legend. Point queries, bounded native-resolution crop summaries and categorical map tiles preserve nodata and source geography. Satellite classification is not a farmer declaration, surveyed field/ownership boundary or official NASS acreage estimate. Noncrop classification derives from other land-cover inputs; no Alaska or territory coverage is invented. Use this dataset as a sourced input to an application, analytical model or retrieval tool. Retain its native dimensions when joining it with your own records.

Query USDA Cropland Data Layer

The example below is a real bounded request against the available release. Replace the environment variable with your server-side API credential. Review endpoint parameters and response schemas before changing selectors.

curl --fail --get "https://api.geoamcan.com/v1/agriculture/cropland?lat=42.0&lon=-93.6" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GEOAMCAN_API_KEY"

Saved response excerpt

{
  "requested_area": {
    "lat": 42.0,
    "lon": -93.6,
    "bbox": null
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "asset_id": "conus2025",
      "class_code": 141,
      "pixel_column": 261523,
      "pixel_row": 120782,
      "pixel_area_m2": 100.0,
      "class_name": "Deciduous Forest",
      "color": "#95ce93",
      "classification_status": "published_class"
    }
  ],
  "availability": {
    "status": "available",
    "year": 2025,
    "resolution_m": 10,
    "coverage": [],
    "pixel_window_budget": 1000000
  },
  "snapshot": {
    "usda-cdl": {
      "release_id": 124,
      "release": "2025 original USDA 10-meter CDL editions",
      "fingerprint": "b29ad01d9c0dcc8ddcd9f0f3bea2039f"
    }
  },
  "returned_count": 1,
  "complete": true,
  "next_offset": null,
  "limitations": [
    "USDA 2025 Cropland Data Layer is satellite-classified crop-specific land cover, not a farmer declaration, parcel/ownership/field boundary or official NASS acreage statistic. The retained 10-meter releases cover the contiguous United States and separately published Hawaii; no Alaska or territory coverage is inferred. Missing/background code 0 means unavailable classification, not no farming. Crop classes, double crops and noncrop classes retain source definitions; noncrop accuracy depends on ancillary land-cover sources. Ten-meter nominal cells do not establish survey accuracy. Bounded summaries count native-resolution pixel centers in the requested box and report native projected-grid area, not a parcel survey. Tiles use nearest-neighbor display resampling and must not be used to calculate acreage. Hawaii-specific codes 93–106 use original Hawaii metadata; their colors use the native palette, with neutral gray only if no source color is supplied. No confidence raster or historic series is included."
  ],
  "source_attribution": {
    "usda-cdl": "USDA NASS 2025 original Cropland Data Layer. https://www.nass.usda.gov/research-and-science/cropland/release"
  },
  "metric_definitions": {
    "class_code": {
      "meaning": "Native categorical source value; code zero is background/nodata"
    },
    "projected_grid_area_ha": {
      "meaning": "Native projected pixel area times center-in-box count; satellite-classification estimate, not official crop acreage or surveyed parcel area"
    },
    "fraction_of_classified_pixels": {
      "meaning": "Share of classified pixel centers in the selected box/asset; excludes background/nodata"
    },
    "map_tiles": {
      "url": "/v1/agriculture/cropland/tiles/{z}/{x}/{y}.png",
      "meaning": "Authenticated categorical nearest-neighbor display tiles; acreage summaries use native resolution"
    }
  }
}

Captured 2026-11-05. Excerpt omits pagination credentials and may shorten nested records. Download verified source responses.

Coverage and interpretation

USDA 2025 Cropland Data Layer is satellite-classified crop-specific land cover, not a farmer declaration, parcel/ownership/field boundary or official NASS acreage statistic. The retained 10-meter releases cover the contiguous United States and separately published Hawaii; no Alaska or territory coverage is inferred. Missing/background code 0 means unavailable classification, not no farming. Crop classes, double crops and noncrop classes retain source definitions; noncrop accuracy depends on ancillary land-cover sources. Ten-meter nominal cells do not establish survey accuracy. Bounded summaries count native-resolution pixel centers in the requested box and report native projected-grid area, not a parcel survey. Tiles use nearest-neighbor display resampling and must not be used to calculate acreage. Hawaii-specific codes 93–106 use original Hawaii metadata; their colors use the native palette, with neutral gray only if no source color is supplied. No confidence raster or historic series is included.

The active release shown here is a catalog snapshot. Check the live catalog and response provenance for current readiness. The underlying public source and Geoamcan access terms are separate; consult the source’s licensing and attribution requirements.

Source and methodology

Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Geoamcan is an independent API provider, with no agency affiliation or endorsement. Read our data methodology for source handling, geographic joins and update practices.

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