Next Page 1.3.1 Agricultural Data Sources Data for an agricultural preservation plan can be collected from a wide variety of sources.
Many resources are available at the county and state level.
Versions of this soil information are available on computerized geographic information systems in some Wisconsin counties. This means that soil and other maps that include attributes such as topography, drainage, wetlands, transportation, etc., can be produced relatively quickly and accurately. The LESA system is one that allows weighing of a variety of land and site attributes to produce a quantitative score to apply to land. The scores that different parcels of land attain according to this system provide a means to compare different lands according to the priorities established during the planning process. A large amount of data on farm operators is available from the Census of Agriculture carried out every five years.