ALCR00294: Post-1988 Agricultural Land Classification Survey for Newbury Wheatlands

Agricultural Land Classification detailed Post 1988 survey ALCR00294 contains scanned original paper maps and survey reports for the Newbury Wheatlands site. The data was collected between 1989 and 1999 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, using the grading methodology from the 'Agricultural Land Classification of England and Wales' guidelines. It includes detailed land grading with Grade 3 subdivisions and, for some surveys, unedited sample point soils data and soil pit descriptions.

Use Cases

• Classifying agricultural land capability based on detailed soil survey reports and maps.
• Analyzing historical land use patterns from scanned maps at scales from 1:5,000 to 1:50,000.
• Training models for soil quality prediction using unedited sample point soils data where available.

Strengths

• Uses the established grading methodology from the 'Agricultural Land Classification of England and Wales' guidelines.
• Includes subdivision of Grade 3 land into subgrades 3a and 3b for finer detail.
• Contains original survey materials (scanned maps and reports) for a specific site surveyed between 1989 and 1999.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), via Natural England and the Government Digital Service.

Collection Method

Detailed site surveys conducted by MAFF, with results captured in paper maps and reports that were later scanned.

Time Range

1989 to 1999

Freshness

Survey data is from 1989-1999; last update for the dataset is unknown.

Geography

Newbury Wheatlands (Newbury LP Site 17), England and Wales