This layer was converted to a shapefile from a Esri File Geodatabase from Open Canada Portal, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/0b2303be-ef05-49a8-8082-44a3eabcfa57 by CanWin staff.

The “Prairie Agricultural Landscapes (PAL)” datasets identify areas of the agricultural portions of the Canadian Prairies with similar land and water resources, land use and farming practices. They are represented by vector polygons.

Based on selected attributes from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) and the 1996 Census of Agriculture, the Prairies were classified into 13 (thirteen) classes of Land Practices Group and five (5) Major Land Practices Groups.

Typical attributes used to define the Land Practice Groups include: land in pasture, land in summerfallow, crop mixture, farm size and the level of chemical and fertilizer inputs.

The five (5) Major Groups were devised to help better understand the relationships between the groups.

• Earth Sciences
• Erosion
• Farmlands
• Farms
• Grasslands
• Land management
• Resources management
• Soil
• Terrestrial ecosystems

Open Government Licence - Canada (https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)

The Land Practices Groups components of the PA L Project identified areas of specific land practice activities by grouping agricultural lands with similar land and water resources, land use and farming practices. These areas were the basis for appropriate policy and program implementation.

This data are available for mapping and analysis projects. 

Source: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/0b2303be-ef05-49a8-8082-44a3eabcfa57

The polygons of these data are based on those of the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) Version 1.9 polygons that have been modified to align with provincial boundaries.

Experts identified the most useful criteria to produce and refine the final sets of land practices groups.

For more information see the document “Prairie Agricultural Landscapes: A Land Resource Review" http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/372710/publication.html.