The Ag land soil tables display data used to make baseline agricultural land assessments at the soil map unit level in South Dakota. The purpose is to assess ag land for property taxes.

To use the tool, open the control tab by selecting the 'CONTROLS' button on the top toolbar. Select the county of interest and the assessment year. Select the variable of interest to map and choose a base map. Select to map all cropland soils, non-cropland soils, class IV soils or a specific soil map unit. When new selections are made, the map, plots, and tables will update. Return to the map, datasets, or plots by clicking a tab on the bottom toolbar. Users can hover over the points on the map to view the soil data in the popup window. Users can also zoom and pan over the map to examine the soil data and background basemaps in more detail. The soil data is available for download as a .csv or Excel file by selecting the table tabs on the bottom toolbar (i.e., 'Table 1', 'Table 2', and 'Table 3'). Scatter plots of the variable of interest and the NRCS Crop Productivity Index and Land Capability Class are in the 'Plots' tab on the bottom toolbar. A description of the methods used, definitions of terms, and a more detailed description of the data in the tables is in the 'Methods' tab on the bottom toolbar.

For more information on the background of the research and methods please see 'A Change in Highest and Best Use Policy in South Dakota Has a Sizable Impact on Agricultural Land Assessments' published in book Choices Magazine multiply

Project Director:,
Matthew S. Elliott
matthew.elliott@sdstate.edu
Associate Professor in Ness School of Management and Economics

Co Project Directors:
Lisa Elliott
lisa.elliott@sdstate.edu
Associate Professor in Ness School of Management and Economics

Douglas Malo
douglas.malo@sdstate.edu
Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Agronomy, Horticulture, & Plant Science

Tong Wang
tong.wang@sdstate.edu
Assistant Professor in Ness School of Management and Economics

For more information about this tool contact Dr. Matthew Elliott (matthew.elliott@sdstate.edu)

We gratefully acknowledge that this project was supported by the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station at South Dakota State University and by Hatch project accession No. 1006890 and No. 1017800 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

multiply