AGRICULTURAL CROP IDENTIFICATION

Ohio tax law permits farmland to be valued according to its current agricultural use value (CAUV) rather than fair market value. Because CAUV is based on average incomes for specific crops (factoring in typical management, yields and soil types), county auditors, including the client, Fairfield County, seek efficient, accurate, timely and cost-effective methods for identifying and quantifying agricultural crops. Woolpert was selected to apply the latest in remote sensing technology to identify and map the different crop types in Fairfield County.

Woolpert acquired one-foot resolution, multi-spectral imagery throughout Fairfield County and used a field spectrometer to collect spectrographs for the desired crops. The project team applied rule sets to analyze the source data and delineate the desired land cover features. Using automated feature extraction, optimization techniques and QA/QC checks, Woolpert attained a 95% accuracy rate (exceeding the client’s goal of 85%).