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Service Description: <div style='text-align:Left;font-size:12pt'><p><span>This dataset provides a digital boundary for </span><span>P</span><span>rime </span><span>A</span><span>gricultural </span><span>L</span><span>and </span><span>in Scotland </span><span>based on an amalgamation of classes 1 and 2 of the Land Capability for Agriculture (LCA) maps. </span><span>The LCA classification is used to rank land on the basis of its potential productivity and cropping flexibility. This is determined by the extent to which the physical characteristics of the land (soil, climate and relief) impose long term restrictions on its use.</span><span> </span><span>The </span><span>source LCA maps are available from the </span><a href='https://www.hutton.ac.uk/land-capability-for-agriculture-lca/' target='_blank' style='text-decoration:underline;'><span>James Hutton Institute</span></a><span> at both 1:250,000 (national coverage) and 1:50,000 (partial coverage) scales.</span></p><p><span>This LCA Prime Land boundary has been produced from </span><span>a</span><span> hybrid version of the L</span><span>CA classification which combines the </span><span>1:250,000 and 1:50,000 </span><span>scale </span><span>dataset</span><span>s</span><span>.</span><span> The hybrid dataset uses the more detailed 1:50,000 scale data where it exists in preference to the 1:250,000 scale data as it is seen as the definitive mapped assessment. The majority of prime land boundary is sourced from the 1:50,000 scale mapping, with that sourced from the </span><span>1:250,000 map limited to north-west of Montrose, Machrihanish, a small area adjacent to the Black Isle, west of Campbeltown and south of Jedburgh.</span><span> This prime land dataset should be used in favour of previous versions which only referenced the 1:250,000 scale mapping.</span></p><p><span>The LCA Prime Land boundary supports </span><span>planners and agricultural officers in assessing cases made for development and determining priorities in relation to retaining areas of high quality agricultural land</span><span>, i.e. that with a high capacity to produce food</span><span>.</span></p></div>

Map Name: PrimeLand

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Description: This dataset provides a digital boundary for Prime Agricultural Land in Scotland based on an amalgamation of classes 1 and 2 of the Land Capability for Agriculture (LCA) maps. The LCA classification is used to rank land on the basis of its potential productivity and cropping flexibility. This is determined by the extent to which the physical characteristics of the land (soil, climate and relief) impose long term restrictions on its use. The source LCA maps are available from the James Hutton Institute at both 1:250,000 (national coverage) and 1:50,000 (partial coverage) scales.This LCA Prime Land boundary has been produced from a hybrid version of the LCA classification which combines the 1:250,000 and 1:50,000 scale datasets. The hybrid dataset uses the more detailed 1:50,000 scale data where it exists in preference to the 1:250,000 scale data as it is seen as the definitive mapped assessment. The majority of prime land boundary is sourced from the 1:50,000 scale mapping, with that sourced from the 1:250,000 map limited to north-west of Montrose, Machrihanish, a small area adjacent to the Black Isle, west of Campbeltown and south of Jedburgh. This prime land dataset should be used in favour of previous versions which only referenced the 1:250,000 scale mapping.The LCA Prime Land boundary supports planners and agricultural officers in assessing cases made for development and determining priorities in relation to retaining areas of high quality agricultural land, i.e. that with a high capacity to produce food.

Copyright Text: Soil Survey of Scotland Staff (1981). Land Capability for Agriculture maps of Scotland at a scale of 1:50,000 and 1:250 000. Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen. 10.5281/zenodo.6322683 and 10.5281/zenodo.6322760

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Title: Land Capability for Agriculture - Prime Land
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Comments: This dataset provides a digital boundary for Prime Agricultural Land in Scotland based on an amalgamation of classes 1 and 2 of the Land Capability for Agriculture (LCA) maps. The LCA classification is used to rank land on the basis of its potential productivity and cropping flexibility. This is determined by the extent to which the physical characteristics of the land (soil, climate and relief) impose long term restrictions on its use. The source LCA maps are available from the James Hutton Institute at both 1:250,000 (national coverage) and 1:50,000 (partial coverage) scales.This LCA Prime Land boundary has been produced from a hybrid version of the LCA classification which combines the 1:250,000 and 1:50,000 scale datasets. The hybrid dataset uses the more detailed 1:50,000 scale data where it exists in preference to the 1:250,000 scale data as it is seen as the definitive mapped assessment. The majority of prime land boundary is sourced from the 1:50,000 scale mapping, with that sourced from the 1:250,000 map limited to north-west of Montrose, Machrihanish, a small area adjacent to the Black Isle, west of Campbeltown and south of Jedburgh. This prime land dataset should be used in favour of previous versions which only referenced the 1:250,000 scale mapping.The LCA Prime Land boundary supports planners and agricultural officers in assessing cases made for development and determining priorities in relation to retaining areas of high quality agricultural land, i.e. that with a high capacity to produce food.
Subject: Current definition of prime agricultural land in Scotland based on an amalgamation of classes 1 and 2 of the Land Capability for Agriculture (LCA) maps provided by the James Hutton Institute in 2025. The dataset is based on a hybrid product of the 1:250,000 and 1:50,000 LCA maps where the majority of prime land is sourced from the 1:50,000 mapping. The purpose of these maps is to aid planners and agricultural officers in assessing cases made for development and determining priorities in relation to retaining areas of high quality agricultural land.
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Keywords: land use,agriculture,agricultural land,crop production,soil
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