Table Y. - Prime Farmland

State Of Rhode Island: Bristol, Kent, Newport, Providence, And Washington Counties

Only the soils considered prime farmland are listed.  Urban or built-up areas of the soils listed are not considered prime farmland.  If a soil is prime farmland only under certain conditions, the conditions are specified in parenthesis after the soil name.
General Criteria of Prime Farmland Soil Map Units
Additional Farmland of Statewide Importance

General Criteria

Link to Title 7 Code Definition

Introduction

 The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is committed to the management and maintenance of the resource base that supports the productive capacity of American Agriculture.  This management and maintenance includes identifying the location and extent of the most suitable land for producing food, feed, fiber, forage, and oilseed crops.  Prime farmland information is supplemented with separate designations of soil map units that have statewide, local, or unique importance as farmland capable of producing these crops.  

The USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Rhode Island Department of Administration's Division of Planning have identified those lands in Rhode Island that have a combination of physical and chemical features that make them best suited for farming.  These "Important Farmlands" are subdivided into: 1) "Prime Farmlands" which are the best soils for agricultural use, and 2) "Additional Farmlands of Statewide Importance" which are other soils that are lass well suited for intensive farming but are still valuable for many farm enterprises. 

 No "Unique" or "locally important" farmlands have been identified in Rhode Island.

 The Important Farmland soil map units listed below are taken from the "Soil Survey of Rhode Island" (USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service, July 1981).  To Qualify as an area of Important Farmland, the land must be available for agricultural use, but need not currently be farmed.  The term "available" means the land must not have been physically converted to a land use that makes in impossible to farm in the future, such as a residential subdivision.  The availability of the land is not dependent on the owner's intentions or plans, but rather on the physical condition of the land.

Prime Farmland

Prime farmland soils are those that have the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops, and are also available for these uses (the soil's use could be cropland, pastureland, forest land, or other land, but not urban built-up or water). It has the soil quality, growing season, and moisture supply needed to economically produce sustained high yields of crops when treated and managed, including water management, according to acceptable farming methods. In general, prime farmland soils have adequate and dependable precipitation, a favorable temperature and growing season, acceptable acidity or alkalinity, and few or no surface stones. They are permeable to water and air. Prime farmland soils are not excessively erodible or saturated with water for a long period of time, and they either do not flood frequently or are protected from flooding.

Specific Criteria

(1) General:  Prime farmland is land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops, and is also available for these uses (the land could be cropland, pastureland, range-land, forest land, or other land, but not urban built-up land or water). It has the soil quality, growing season, and moisture supply needed to economically produce sustained high yields of crops when treated and managed, including water management, according to acceptable farming methods. In general, prime farmlands have an adequate and dependable water supply from precipitation or irrigation, a favorable temperature and growing season, acceptable acidity or alkalinity, acceptable salt and sodium content, and few or no rocks. They are permeable to water and air. Prime farmlands are not excessively erodible or saturated with water for a long period of time, and they either do not flood frequently or are protected from flooding. Examples of soils that qualify as prime farmland are Bridgehampton silt loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes; Paxton fine sandy loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes; and Newport silt loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes

Prime farmland soils meet all the following criteria: (Terms used are defined in USDA publications: "Soil Taxonomy, Agriculture Handbook 435," "Soil Survey Manual, Agriculture Handbook 18," "Predicting Rainfall Erosion Losses, Agriculture Handbook 537," and "Wind Erosion Forces in the United States and Their Use in Predicting Soil Loss, Agriculture Handbook 346."

• A. The soils have aquic or udic moisture regimes and sufficient available water capacity within a depth of 40 inches (1 meter), or in the root zone (root zone is the part of the soil that is penetrated or can be penetrated by plant roots) if it is less than 40 inches deep, to produce the commonly grown cultivated crops (cultivated crops include, but are not limited to grain, forage, oilseed, sugar beets, vegetables, orchard, vineyard, and bush fruit crops) adapted to the region in 7 or more years of 10 (has at less 3.5 inches of available water in MLRA's, 144A and 149B, and more than 3 inches of available water in MLRA's, 144B and 143 and 145), and
   
• B. The soils have a temperature regime that is frigid or mesic. These are soils that, at a depth of 20 inches (50 cm.), have a mean annual temperature between 32 and 59F (0-24C). In addition, the mean summer temperature at this depth in soils with an O horizon is higher than 47oF (8C), in soils that have no O horizon, the mean summer temperature is higher than 59F (15C); and,
   
• C. The soils have a pH between 4.5 and 8.4 in all horizons within a depth of 40 inches (1 meter) or in the root zone if it is less than 40 inches deep; and,
   
• D. The soils either have no water table or have a water table that is maintained at a sufficient depth during the cropping season to allow cultivated crops common to the area to be grown; and,
   
• E. The soils are not flooded frequently during the growing season (less often than once in 2 years); and,
   
• F. The product of K (erodibility factor) x percent slope is less than 2.0; and,
   
• G. The soils have a permeability rate of at least 0.06 inch (0.15 cm) per hour in the upper 20 inches (50 cm); and,
   
• H. Less than 10 percent of the surface layer (upper 6 inches) in these soils consists of rock fragments 3 inches (7.6 cm) to 10 inches (25 cm) in size.

Additional Farmland of Statewide Importance

This is land, in addition to prime and unique farmland, that is of statewide importance for the production of food, feed, fiber, forage, and oil seed crops. Criteria for defining and delineating this land are to be determined by the appropriate state agency or agencies. Generally, additional farmlands of statewide importance include those that are nearly prime farmland and that economically produce high yields of crops when treated and managed according to acceptable farming methods. Some may produce as high a yield as prime farmlands if conditions are favorable. In some states, additional farmlands of statewide importance may include tracts of land that have been designated for agriculture by state law.

Special note:  In Rhode Island, all soils that meet the "Prime Farmland" criteria are also included in the "Additional Farmland of Statewide Importance" category.  The inclusion of these soils in the list of Additional Lands of Statewide Importance" by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture resulted from a May 1985 request by the RI Department of Administration's Division of Planning seeking to have the Prime Farmlands afforded the additional protection given to Farmlands of Statewide Importance.

Soil Map Units That Qualify as Additional Farmland of Statewide Importance

 From: "Soil Survey of Rhode Island" (correlated and published, 1981)

Back to Rhode Island Soil Survey

Back to Nesoil