Cadastre Crop Insight Pack

Disclaimer

Geoscape Australia believes this publication to be correct at the time of printing and does not accept responsibility for any consequences arising from the use of the information herein. Readers should rely on their own skill and judgement to apply information to particular issues.

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Overview

The Cadastre Crop Insight Pack provides detailed crop type and harvest information for agricultural land classified as “Crop Land” across Australia. This product delivers seasonal-resolution crop analysis that enables agricultural monitoring, food security assessment, and agri-finance applications.

Product Purpose

This insight pack provides the cadastre_crop detail table, which expands upon the cadastre polygons identified as “Crop Land” in the base cadastre_lulc table. The data supports:

• Agricultural analysis for crop monitoring and food security assessment

• Agri-finance applications requiring crop type and harvest detail

• Seasonal crop activity tracking across cadastral parcels

• Integration with Geoscape Cadastre for spatial crop analysis

Product Structure

The cadastre_crop table provides crop type and harvest coverage for cadastre polygons identified as Crop Land in the base LULC classification. Each row describes coverage for a given cadastre polygon, season, and crop class (and optionally a specific crop within that class).

This table has seasonal (not yearly) resolution, reflecting that cropping activity varies within a calendar year (e.g. Winter vs. Summer crop seasons).

Key Features

Temporal Resolution

The cadastre_crop table provides seasonal temporal resolution:

• Winter crop season

• Summer crop season

This seasonal breakdown enables tracking of multiple cropping cycles within a single calendar year.

Crop Classification Hierarchy

Crop data is organised in a two-level hierarchy:

1. Crop Class (crop_class) - High-level classification such as Cereals, Pulses, Rapeseed, Fallow, Fibre, Grass

2. Crop Name (crop_name) - Specific crop within the class (e.g. Wheat, Barley, Canola, Cotton, Sugarcane)

When crop_name is NULL, the row represents the aggregated crop class view with no crop-level breakdown available for that polygon/season/class combination.

Spatial Integration

Data is spatially enabled by joining to the Geoscape Cadastre product via the cadastre_polygon_pid field. This allows customers to associate crop classification data with cadastral geometries for spatial analysis and visualisation.

Delivery Format

Data is delivered as PSV (Pipe Separated Value) files with .psv extension, compatible with relational database applications and spreadsheet tools. PSV format uses the pipe character ( | ) as the field delimiter, avoiding ambiguity with comma-delimited formats where field values may contain commas.

Use Cases

This insight pack supports various agricultural and financial analysis scenarios:

Agricultural Analysis and Crop Monitoring

Detailed crop type and harvest information enables tracking of specific commodity production across regions and seasons. Supports food security assessment, agricultural planning, and commodity market analysis.

Agri-Finance Applications

Crop type and harvest data informs agricultural lending, insurance underwriting, and investment decisions by providing ground-truth crop classification at cadastral level.

Seasonal Crop Activity Tracking

Seasonal resolution enables monitoring of winter and summer cropping patterns, identifying multiple cropping systems and fallow periods across the agricultural calendar.

Integration with LULC Insight Pack

This insight pack is designed to work in combination with the Cadastre LULC Insight Pack:

1. Use cadastre_lulc table to identify parcels classified as “Crop Land”

2. Join to cadastre_crop table via cadastre_polygon_pid to access detailed crop classification

Customers focused solely on agricultural analysis can subscribe to the Crop insight pack combined with the base LULC layer. For comprehensive land use intelligence including forest analysis, combine all three insight packs (LULC, Crop, and Forest).

Technical Description

Data Scope

The cadastre_crop table provides detailed crop type and harvest information for cadastre polygons identified as Crop Land in Table 1 (cadastre_lulc). This table is scoped to records where lulc_class = 'Crop Land' in the base LULC classification.

Seasonal Resolution

Unlike the yearly cadastre_lulc and cadastre_forest tables, this table has seasonal (not yearly) resolution, reflecting that cropping activity varies by season (e.g. Winter, Summer).

Seasonal breakdown enables tracking of:

• Multiple cropping cycles within a calendar year

• Winter crop plantings (e.g. wheat, barley, canola)

• Summer crop plantings (e.g. cotton, sugarcane, sorghum)

• Fallow periods between cropping cycles

Crop Classification Hierarchy

Crop data is organised in a two-level hierarchy:

Crop Class Level

High-level classification grouping similar crop types:

• Cereals (wheat, barley, rice, maize, sorghum/millet)

• Pulses (dry peas, beans, groundnuts)

• Rapeseed (canola)

• Fallow (land left uncultivated for fertility restoration)

• Fibre (cotton)

• Grass (sugarcane, forage sorghum)

Crop Name Level

Specific crop identification within each class. When available, the crop_name field provides the precise crop type (e.g. Wheat, Canola, Cotton).

Aggregated Views

A row with crop_name IS NULL represents the aggregated crop class view (no crop-level breakdown available for that polygon/season/class combination).

Coverage and Harvest Attributes

The table includes both coverage and harvest metrics:

coverage_area

Area covered by the crop class or specific crop (square metres). Sourced from acreage_crop when crop_name is present, otherwise from acreage_class.

harvest_area

Harvested area (square metres). Sourced from harvest_crop when crop_name is present, otherwise from harvest_class. NULL when no harvest record exists.

coverage_pct and harvest_pct

Percentage values relative to the row’s coverage_area.

• harvest_pct is NULL when no harvest record exists

• harvest_pct shows 0.00 when total_cadastre_area = 0

Cadastral Area Calculation

Area has been calculated using a parcel’s relevant GDA2020 MGA zone. When, due to the size of a parcel, a record is split between two MGA zones, the area is split into two parts favoring the leftmost MGA zone: 7850 > 7851 > 7852 > 7853 > 7854 > 7855 > 7856.

Coverage Area and Percentage

The coverage_area attribute represents the distinct summed area based on the combination of land use category, crop/forest class, and class subtype for a cadastral polygon part.

Some coverage areas may have an area of 0m². These have been maintained to assist in explaining where the sum of Agricultural Land Use records do not match the area of the cadastral parcel.

The coverage_pct attribute represents the percentage of the total polygon area covered by a class/subtype. Because of rounding, it is possible for the sum of coverage_pct grouped by a cadastre_polygon_pid to be greater than 100% (e.g. 100.02%).

Sorghum Classification Note

Sorghum can be classified under either Cereals (grain sorghum) or Grass (forage/sweet sorghum) depending on the classification methodology. This is a known limitation of the underlying classification approach.

Classification Limitations

The following crop_class values have no crop_name breakdown and will always carry a NULL crop_name:

• Pulses

• Fallow

• Other Crop

• Unclassified

Data Dictionary

Table: cadastre_crop

Detail table providing crop type and harvest coverage for cadastre polygons identified as Crop Land in Table 1. Each row describes coverage for a given cadastre polygon, season, and crop class (and optionally a specific crop within that class). Scoped to records where lulc_class = 'Crop Land' in the base classification.

Columns

Column	Type	Nullable	Description
cadastre_crop_pid	character string(15)	NOT NULL	Primary key — unique identifier for this record
cadastre_polygon_pid	character string(15)	NOT NULL	Unique persistent identifier for the cadastre polygon
cadastre_pid	character string(15)	NOT NULL	Persistent identifier for the cadastral feature for the life of the lot’s title
year	number(4)	NOT NULL	Calendar year the coverage data relates to
season	character string(15)	NOT NULL	Season name component (e.g. Winter) — see domain values
state	character string(3)	NOT NULL	Australian state or territory code — see domain values
total_cadastre_area	number(14,2)	NOT NULL	Total area of the cadastre polygon (square metres)
crop_class	character string(20)	NOT NULL	High-level crop classification — see domain values
crop_name	character string(20)	NULL	Specific crop name within the crop class. NULL when data is only available at crop class level
coverage_area	number(14,2)	NOT NULL	Area covered by the crop class or specific crop (square metres). Sourced from acreage_crop when crop_name is present, otherwise from acreage_class
coverage_pct	number(5,2)	NOT NULL	Coverage area as a percentage of the total cadastre area
harvest_area	number(14,2)	NULL	Harvested area (square metres). Sourced from harvest_crop when crop_name is present, otherwise from harvest_class. NULL when no harvest record exists
harvest_pct	number(5,2)	NULL	Harvested area as a percentage of this row’s coverage_area. NULL when no harvest record exists. 0.00 when total_cadastre_area = 0

Notes

• A row with crop_name IS NULL represents the aggregated crop class view (no crop-level breakdown available for that polygon/season/class combination).

• The following crop_class values have no crop_name breakdown: Pulses, Fallow, Other Crop, Unclassified.

• Sorghum can be classified under either Cereals (grain sorghum) or Grass (forage/sweet sorghum) depending on the classification. This is a known limitation of the underlying classification methodology.

Domain Values: season

Value	Description
Winter	Winter crop season
Summer	Summer crop season

Domain Values: crop_class

High-level classification of the crop type. All values correspond to records where lulc_class = 'Crop Land' in the base LULC table.

Value	Description
Cereals	Includes wheat (huskless grains), barley (hulled grains), rice, maize, sweet corn, and sorghum/millet
Pulses	Covers dry peas, beans, and subterranean pulses such as groundnuts
Rapeseed	Primarily canola; may also include linseed, mustard, and other rapeseed variants
Fallow	Agricultural land left uncultivated for a season to restore fertility
Other Crop	An identifiable crop which at this time is unable to be defined into a crop class
Unclassified	Land which is unable to be classified into a defined crop class
Fibre	Predominantly cotton but may include other crops grown primarily for material production
Grass	Typically sugarcane but may include sorgo or sorghum

Domain Values: crop_name

Specific crop identification within each crop class.

Value	crop_class	Description
Wheat	Cereals	A huskless grain grown mainly for food production in Australia (flour)
Barley	Cereals	A grain with a husk commonly grown for stock/animal feed or malt (alcohol production)
Sorghum	Cereals	Predominantly grown as stock/animal feed; additional uses include alcohol production and as a flour replacement
Canola	Rapeseed	Grown primarily for canola oil or biofuel; byproducts (canola meal) used for livestock feed
Cotton	Fibre	A crop grown primarily for clothing and manufacturing
Sugarcane	Grass	Grown primarily for raw and refined sugar; secondary byproducts include ethanol, molasses, and mulch

Note

Classification Limitations: The following crop_class values have no crop_name breakdown and will always carry a NULL crop_name: Pulses, Fallow, Other Crop, Unclassified.

Domain Values: state

Value	Description
NSW	New South Wales
VIC	Victoria
QLD	Queensland
SA	South Australia
WA	Western Australia
TAS	Tasmania
ACT	Australian Capital Territory
NT	Northern Territory