Farmers know their land better than anyone. They see it up-close, every day, and understand their farm with a level of detail that can only be provided with hands-on experience. To augment hands-on knowledge and ensure long-term agricultural success, a broader scope of agricultural information can be accessed using AgMaps. AgMaps is a free, online, and easy-to-use tool that can be a valuable resource for farmers who want to gain deeper insight into the factors that affect their crop production.
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) created and maintains AgMaps (ontario.ca/agmaps), an interactive mapping application, to help visualize and analyze agricultural data. AgMaps uses field-specific data to allow farmers to analyze both historical and current events on their farm. This is one of the goals to help grow Ontario’s agri-food sector, contributing to a stronger economy for the Province.
AgMaps allows users to view a wide variety of agriculturally relevant spatial data in a single map viewer. Popular datasets include high-resolution aerial photographs, locations of municipal drains, locations of tile drains, soil survey information, and crop indexes (from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada). Users can easily add or remove any of these layers to create custom and layered maps.
AgMaps also provides interactive tools for drawing field boundaries, measuring distances or areas, and adding text or drawing shapes. These features allow the user to generate and markup custom maps to create tailored resource management plans. AgMaps also provides several form templates under the “Markup & Printing > Create Map” catered to programs such as the Environmental Farm Plan and the Farmland Health Checkup. These tools make it easy for farmers to generate a map with all the required info to apply to these programs.
There are many options available to search by location. AgMaps can be searched using 911 addresses, GPS coordinates, lot and concession, Assessment Roll Number (ARN), and assessment parcels. Additionally, when AgMaps is running on a mobile device, users have the option of turning on location services wherein AgMaps will zoom into their current location. When using this application, all the data used and created is temporarily saved to the user’s device and is not accessible to the government and third parties. To try it out, and for more information on the AgMaps portal, please visit ontario.ca/agmaps. If you have any questions regarding the use of AgMaps, please call the Agricultural Information Contact Centre (AICC) 1-877-424-1300 or e-mail ag.info.omafa@ontario.ca.