Soil Cover Days Indicator for Canadian Agricultural Lands

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada provides the Agri-Environmental Indicator Soil Cover Days dataset. It calculates the annual duration soil on Canadian agricultural lands is covered by crops, crop residues, or snow. The dataset is available in multiple geospatial formats and was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze soil cover duration trends over time using annual calculation data.
• Model soil erosion risk by correlating soil cover days with precipitation or land-use data.
• Assess regional agricultural sustainability by comparing soil cover metrics across provinces.
• Evaluate the impact of crop residue management practices on soil cover.
• Monitor the effect of snow cover on soil protection in different climatic zones.

Strengths

• Data is provided by the authoritative government agency Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
• Available in multiple interoperable formats including ESRI REST, CSV, and GEOJSON.
• Last update date indicates ongoing maintenance.

Limitations

• The exact number of rows, geographic granularity, and temporal coverage are unknown.
• Without column details, the specific metrics and spatial resolution are unclear.

Provenance

Source

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Collection Method

Calculation of soil cover duration on agricultural lands.

Freshness

Updated in April 2026.

Geography

Canada