Estimation of Agricultural Dykelands Cultivated in Nova Scotia Using Land Property Boundaries and Crop Inventory

Dykelands are agricultural ground protected from coastal inundation by dyke infra-structure and constitute some of the most agriculturally productive lands in Nova Scotia. Between 2015 and 2019, Canada’s Annual Crop Inventory was used to characterize and estimate hectares of agricultural dykelands c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	ISPRS international journal of geo-information 2021-12, Vol.10 (12), p.801
Main Authors:	Bilodeau, Mathieu F., Esau, Travis J., Farooque, Aitazaz A., Zaman, Qamar U., Heung, Brandon
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Agricultural land Agriculture Automation Barley Boundaries Cereal crops Corn Crop insurance Crop inventories crop inventory Crop production Crops dykelands Environmental studies Farms Forage Geographical information systems GIS land cover Land use Overtopping Property boundaries Remote sensing Satellite imagery Sea level changes Sea level rise Soybeans Spaceborne remote sensing Tidal waves Uses Wheat
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Summary:	Dykelands are agricultural ground protected from coastal inundation by dyke infra-structure and constitute some of the most agriculturally productive lands in Nova Scotia. Between 2015 and 2019, Canada’s Annual Crop Inventory was used to characterize and estimate hectares of agricultural dykelands cultivated in Nova Scotia. The number of hectares of wheat, barley, corn, forages and soybeans were compiled for each year and compared to the previous year. This was accomplished using GIS software, satellite images, and geodata from the Nova Scotia’s Land Property Database. Results revealed that from 2015 to 2019, an average of 56% of the dykelands’ total surface was dedicated to the production of field crops (wheat, barley, corn, soybeans) and forage. Results also highlighted the importance of forage production on the dykelands. Forage was the largest commodity grown, representing around 80% of the total crop land area of the agricultural dykelands. Corn and soybeans were the second and third crops of abundance, constituting 12 and 4% of the total crop land area, respectively. This study represents the first attempt to document the number of hectares of the principal crops grown on Nova Scotia’s dykelands using crop inventory and property boundaries. Given the predictions of rising sea levels and the overtopping risks that the dykelands face, this study will facilitate more suitable land-use policies by providing stakeholders with an accurate quantitative assessment of the utilization of agricultural dykelands.
ISSN:	2220-9964 2220-9964