The use of the agricultural land evaluation and site assessment system in the united states

Demarcation of Prime Farmland Protection Areas around a Metropolis Based on High-Resolution Satellite Imagery

“…The LESA framework was introduced by the USDA Soil Conservation Service26, and it focuses on the stability and sustainable production capability of the farmland45. The LESA framework contains two components: (1) the land evaluation (LE) component reflects the rating of the natural condition of the farmland; (2) the site assessment (SA) component reflects the socioeconomic suitability of the farmland15 and the probability of its transition to non-agricultural use46.…”

“…Automatic interpretation of remote sensing imagery can provide rich geographical information of land use which can facilitate our understanding of its trends232425. Then, the land suitability method could be introduced to select superior farmland as PFs for the following GIS analysis, such as LESA method26, IGAS analysis27, and FLOWA model28. After getting the PF information, GIS spatial analysis can be used to directly plan and design the PFPA2930.…”

The information system of plans approach: Using and making plans for landscape protection

“…5 shows comparison analysis of quality agricultural resources with existing protections and regulations. The dark areas indicate areas of high quality soil based on the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) System, which has been viewed as a useful tool in American agricultural protection and rural development planning since its development in the mid-1980s (Steiner et al, 1987;King, 2001;Hoobler et al, 2003) particularly in McHenry County (Steiner et al, 1994). In Fig.…”

Integration of Regional Land Use Planning With Environmental Impact Assessment: A Practical Land Suitability Assessment Approach

“…Where external environmental factors have been considered, for example, in the LESA (Steiner et al 1987) and agro-ecological assessment methods (FA0 1993), these have been relatively simplistic. By failing to accommodate scoping, consultation, significance criteria, carrying capacities, mitigation, and the integration of external environmental considerations into land use recommendations, these methods fall well short of incorporating the methodological rigors of EIA or CIA.…”

“…Perhaps the greatest proponents of land suitability assessment are the Soil and Conservation Survey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, particularly the land evaluation and site assessment (LESA) system (Steiner et al 1987), and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The F A 0 is responsible for a variety of land suitability assessment methods, including, inter alia, the Framework for Land Evaluation ( F A 0 1976, 1989), Agro-Ecological Assessment ( F A 0 1993) and the more recent Framework for Sustainable Land Management ( F A 0 1994).…”