Prime farmland evaluation?

Nate, is this for a non-U.S. project?

Typically in the U.S. it's a simple federal designation and you don't have to test the soil. So I'm curious what's going on in your circumstances.

Hello Nate -

You shouldn't have to resort to soils testing to determine the site's classification. Our office used the USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service's GIS: https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx

Choose your Area of Interest (AOI) - project boundary, basically - and then jump to the "Soil Data Explorer", then "Suitabilities and Limitations for Use". There's a land classification tab which will breakdown further for farmland classification.

If you're familiar with using GIS in some capacity, you'll find the USDA's site is fairly easy to navigate.

Hello,

I have the same question for farmland and I am still struggling about how can I identify whether the land is located in prime farmland. I am not familiar with the tool you are suggesting. Is there any other way to identify?

Hi Roshni :) That web soil survey is still the current tool for the USDA Prime Farmland designation. There are some instructions for using it about halfway down the page here: https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/ It's not the most obvious process so hopefully that explains it. As Leah said, you will need to define an area of interest (your project boundary) and the instructions have some screenshots of how to do that. 

If it's not working for you, another option might be the state agriculture department for the project's location, but some states make it easier than others to find that data. 

Thank you for your response. I followed the suggestion provided on website but how shall I determine after hitting "Farmland Classification" that project is not on prime farmland?

What I have done in the past is after defining my area of interest, go to the "shopping cart" tab and click "check out." Then it offers the option of downloading a full soil report. The report lists each soil type in the area of interest including whether it is prime farmland. And that gives you something you can easily upload to LEED Online. 

Hi! This thread is super helpful. I was wondering if developing on a USDA designation as "primefarmland if irregated" would count as developing on sensitive lands? Thank you!