An annotated bibliography of land evaluation

This is a brief list of texts and reference works on land evaluation. The material presented in these is sufficient to understand the FAO framework, its applications to various land uses, and its relation to other methods of land evaluation. It was developed as part of a course at Cornell University in 1994 and somewhat updated in the years following.

• Texts
• Primary Sources
• Land Evaluation Theory
• ALES Applications

Texts

• Bridges, E. M. and Donald A. Davidson (eds.) (1982) "Principles and applications of soil geography". Longman, London.

  An advanced British undergraduate text, with excellent summary chapters on soil survey, soil classification, automated data handling, agricultural and urban uses of soils information. Good bibliographies.

• Burrough, Peter A. (1986) "Principles of geographical information systems for land resources assessment". Oxford Science Publishers, Monographs on Soil and Resouces Survey No. 12, Clarendon Press, Oxford.

  An introduction to GIS for natural resources scientists, with some land evaluation examples. Dense but worthwhile.

• Davidson, Donald A. (1992). "The evaluation of land resources". Longman Scientific, London.

  An advanced British undergraduate text on applications of soils information to planning. Excellent introduction to the literature. Update of the 1980 text "Soils and land use planning". Mentions ALES in passing.

• Dent, David, and Anthony Young (1981). "Soil survey and land evaluation". George Allen & Unwin.

  An advanced British undergraduate text, probably the best introduction to the subjects named in the title.

• Hudson, Norman. (1995) "Soil conservation", 3rd edition. Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.

  This practical text on soil conservation has a good chapter on the land capability approach to land evaluation. Many examples are from Africa.

• McRae, S.G. & Burnham, C.P . (1981). "Land evaluation". Monographs on soil survey, Oxford: Clarendon Press. viii, 239 pp.

  A comprehensive survey of physical land evaluation methods, including parametric systems and land capability classifications, in a wide variety of countries.

• Rossiter, D.G. (1994) "Lecture notes: Land evaluation". SCAS Teaching Series T94-1, Department of Soil, Crop & Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca NY USA.

  Lecture notes from a graduate-level course in land evaluation methods. Available in digital format.

• Sys, C. (1985) "Land evaluation". State University of Ghent (Belgium), International Training Centre for post-graduate soil scientists. Parts I, II, and III.

  This is the three-volume text used by Prof. Sys in his training course for professional soil scientists. Parts I and II deal with methodology; part III is the only publication where extensive crop requirement tables have been collected.

Primary sources

• Beatty, Marvin T., Petersen, Gary W., & Swindale, Leslie D. (eds.) (1979) "Planning the uses and management of land", Agronomy Monograph 21, American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, USA.

  Large (1027 page) collection of articles on land use planning from the perspective of natural resource scientists. Emphasis on practical problems of land use in the USA.

• Beek, Klaas Jan (1978) "Land evaluation for agricultural development". International Inst. for Land Reclamation and Improvement, Wageningen, publication 23. Subtitled "Some explorations of land-use systems analysis with particular reference to Latin America".

  This is Beek's doctoral thesis, and is quite wide-ranging.

• Davidson, Donald A. (ed.) (1986) "Land evaluation". Van Nostrand Reinhold/AVI.

  A collection of original influential papers on land evaluation.

• EUROCONSULT (1989). "Agricultural Compendium for rural development in the tropics and subtropics." Amsterdam: Elsevier.

  This extremely useful compendium contains a good introductory chapter on land classification methods.

• FAO publications
  • FAO Soil resources development and conservation service (1976) "A framework for land evaluation". FAO Soils Bulletin 32, FAO, Rome.

    The original statement of the "FAO Framework", this has been superseded by better and more comprehensive explanations in the later soils bulletins on the subject.

  • FAO Soil resources development and conservation service (1983) "Guidelines: land evaluation for rainfed agriculture". FAO Soils Bulletin 52, FAO, Rome.

    Specific guidelines for evaluating land for rainfed agriculture, based on the FAO framework.

  • FAO (1984) "Land evaluation for forestry" FAO Forestry Paper 48, FAO, Rome.

    Specific guidelines for evaluating land for forestry, based on the FAO framework.

  • FAO Soil resources development and conservation service (1985) "Guidelines: land evaluation for irrigated agriculture". FAO Soils Bulletin 55, FAO, Rome.

    Specific guidelines for evaluating land for irrigated agriculture, based on the FAO framework.

  • FAO Soil resources development and conservation service (1991) "Guidelines: land evaluation for extensive grazing". FAO Soils Bulletin 58, FAO, Rome. Specific guidelines for evaluating land for extensive grazing, based on the FAO framework.
• Klingebiel, A. A., & P. H. Montgomery, P.H. (1961) "Land capability classification". USDA Agriculture. Handbook 210, Washington, DC.

  The source document for the land capability approach. Short and well-stated.

• Landon, J. R. (Ed.). (1984). "Booker tropical soil manual : a handbook for soil survey and agricultural land evaluation in the tropics and subtropics." New York: Longman.

  A practical approach to land evaluation from the practicing soil surveyor's point of view.

• Siderius, W. (ed.) (1984) "Proceedings of the workshop on land evaluation for extensive grazing (LEEG)". International Inst. for Land Reclamation and Improvement, Wageningen, publication 36.

  Specific guidelines for evaluating land for extensive grazing, based on the FAO framework.

• Siderius, W. (ed.) (1986) "Land evaluation for land-use planning and conservation in sloping areas". International Inst. for Land Reclamation and Improvement, Wageningen, publication 40.

  Specific guidelines for evaluating land in sloping areas, based on the FAO framework.

• U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (1951). "Irrigated land use, Part 2: Land classification." Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.

  The source document for the USBR land suitability classification for irrigation.

Land evaluation theory

• Diepen, C. A. van, Keulen, H. van, Wolf, J., & Berkhout, J. A. A. (1991). "Land evaluation: from intuition to quantification". In: B. A. Stewart (Eds.), Advances In Soil Science (pp. 139-204). New York: Springer.

  A critical review of land evaluation concepts.

• Rossiter, D.G. 1996 " A theoretical framework for land evaluation (with Discussion)". GEODERMA , 72: 165-202.

  An attempt at a classification of land evaluation approaches. Includes an extensive discussion by six of the most prominent workers in land evaluation (de Gruitjer, Van Ranst, Burrough, Johnson, McBratney, & Bouma).

• Rossiter, D.G. 1995 " Economic land evaluation: why and how". Soil Use & Management, 11: 132-140.

  Just what the title says.

• FAO (2007) "Land evaluation: Towards a revised framework" Land & Water Discussion Paper 6; Rome: FAO;

  Describes the FAO's current thinking about land evaluation. As the series title says, it's open to discussion.

ALES applications

• Johnson, A. K. L., & Cramb, R. A. (1991). "Development of a simulation-based land evaluation system using crop modelling, expert systems and risk analysis." Soil Use & Management, 7(4), 239-245.

  They use ALES along with a linear program and the @RISK Monte-Carlo simulation driver to assess land suitability for sugar cane in Queensland.

• van Lanen, H. A. J., Hack-ten Broeke, M. J. D. , Bouma, J., & de Groot, W.J.M. (1992). "A mixed qualitative/quantitative physical land evaluation methodology". Geoderma 55: 37.

  A good example of using the right tool for each job: ALES for a semi-quantitative rapid assessment of problem areas, then a simultion model fo more detailed assessment in critical areas.

• van Lanen, H. A. J. & Wopereis, H.. (1992). "Computer-captured expert knowledge to evaluate possibilities for injection of slurry from animal manure in the Netherlands". Geoderma 54: 107.

  More from the Staring Centre team.

• van Lanen, H. A. J., van Diepen, C. A., Reinds , G. J., & De Koning, G. H. J. (1992). "A comparaison of qualitative and quantitative physical land evaluations, using an assessment of the potential for sugar beet growth in the European Community." Soil Use & Management, 8(2), 80-89.
• Venema, J. H., & Daink, F. (1992). "Papua New Guinea Land Evaluation Systems (PNGLES)." Port Moresby: Papua New Guinea Department of Agriculture and Livestock.

  A comprehensive application of ALES for physical land evaluation at the country scale.

• León Pérez, J. C. (1992). "Aplicación del Sistema Automatizado para la Evaluación de Tierras (ALES), en un sector de la cuenca del río Sinú (Córdoba, Colombia)". Revista C.I.A.F. 13(1): 19-42.

  A physical suitability evaluation for a variety of tropical land uses in a semi-arid river basin. Results were transferred to the ILWIS GIS for spatial analysis and map display. Work of the "Agustín Codazzi" Geographical Institute of Colombia.

• Delsert, E. (1993) "Quelles possibilites pour l'utilisation du logiciel ALES dans le contexte de l'agriculture française? : Application a l'évaluation des potentialités du blé en Lorraine." Ing. Agr., Institut Supérieur d'Agriculture, Université Catholique de Lille.

  Application of ALES to wheat growing in the Lorraine region of France.

• Yizengaw, T. & Verheye, W. (1995). "Application of computer captured knowledge in land evaluation, using ALES in central Ethiopia" Geoderma 66(3-4): 297-311.

  An approach to an expert system in land evaluation was described for central Ethiopia, involving local expertise in decision making. A simple decision procedure, referred to as Land EValuation system for Central EThiopia (LEV-CET), was developed using the facilities of ALES. The model was applied to evaluate land use potentials in a sample area in central Ethiopia for barley (Hordeum vulgare), maize (Zea mays) and teff (Eragrostis tef). Outputs from LEV-CET indicated that the high altitude areas have severe climatic limitations for all three crops. The central and southern parts are climatically suitable for teff and barley, and moderately suitable for maize. Major limitations to crop production are adverse conditions of temperature, wetness and rooting. Consistent yield improvements can be expected by a proper choice of crops or alternative land uses, and/or by concentrating on better management of poorly drained land.

• Lavoie, Suzanne et Nolin, Michel C. (1997). "Évaluation de l'aptitude des terres à la production de maïs-grain intégrant les risques de pollution de la ressource-eau: Application au comté de Richelieu, Québec". Bulletin d'extension numéro 6 du Centre de recherce et de développement sur les sols et les grandes cultures, Agriculture et Agroalimenaire Canada (Sainte-Foy, Québec).

  A nice study using ALES to integrate production potential and environmental risk into a composite map, produced with ArcView, based on soil series. This shows planners where the high-production, low-vulnerability soils are: these should be encouraged for grain production; conversely, grain production on the low-production, high-vulnerability soils should be restricted.

• Lantican, C.A., Grierson, I.T., Chittleborough, D.T & Lewis, M.M. (1998). "Application of the Automated Land Evaluation System (ALES) and remote sensing for land use planning in the Philippines". Proceedings Ninth Australasian Remote Sensing Conference, July 1998, Sydney. 1:1555.
• Mantel, S. and van Engelen, V.W.P. (1999) "Assessment of the impact of water erosion on productivity of maize in Kenya: an integrated modelling approach" Land Degradation and Development, 10(6): 557-592.
• Mantel, S., van Engelen, V.W.P., Molfino, J.H. and Resink, J.W. (2000) "Exploring biophysical potential and sustainability of wheat cultivation in Uruguay at the national level" Soil Use and Management, 16(4): 270-278.
• Gobin, A., Campling, P., Deckers, J. and Feyen, J. (2001) "Integrated land resources analysis with an application to Ikem (south-eastern Nigeria)" Landscape and Urban Planning, 53(1-4): 95-109.
• Bocco, G., Mendoza, M. and Velazquez, A. (2001) "Remote sensing and GIS-based regional geomorphological mapping - a tool for land use planning in developing countries" Geomorphology, 39(3-4): 211-219.
• Mantel, S., Zhang Xuelei, Zhang Ganlin (2003) "Identification of potential for banana in Hainan island, China" Pedosphere 13, 147-155.
• Bocco, G., Velazquez, A. and Siebe, C. (2005) "Using geomorphologic mapping to strengthen natural resource management in developing countries. The case of rural indigenous communities in Michoacan, Mexico" CATENA, 60(3): 239-253.
• Kilic, S., Evrendilek, F., Senol, S. and Celik, I. (2005) "Developing a suitability index for land uses and agricultural land covers: A case study in Turkey" Environmental Monitoring and Asssessment, 102(1-3): 323-335.

Author: D G Rossiter
Last modified: Sun Apr 5 09:38:47 EDT 2020