US Property Land & Soil Enrichment

Enrich any US property location with USDA soil data, climate intelligence, and agricultural capability scores. No API keys needed — both data sources (USDA SSURGO and Open-Meteo) are completely free.

What data do you get?

Soil Properties (USDA SSURGO)

• Soil name — USDA map unit or component name
• Farmland classification — Prime farmland, Statewide importance, etc.
• Drainage class — Well drained, Moderately well drained, Poorly drained
• Soil pH — Topsoil acidity/alkalinity (1:1 water method)
• Organic matter % — Soil fertility indicator
• Hydraulic conductivity — Water movement through soil
• Soil class — Numeric quality rating (1=best, 8=worst for agriculture)

Climate Data (Open-Meteo Historical Archive)

• USDA Hardiness Zone — Computed from 12 years of daily temperature data (2010–2022)
• Frost-free days — Average days per year above 32°F
• Average annual precipitation — In inches
• Elevation — Meters above sea level
• Average annual minimum temperature — For cold-hardiness assessment

Capability Scores (0–100)

• Vineyard Score — Grape growing and winemaking potential based on pH, drainage, zone
• Garden Score — Vegetable garden viability based on pH, organic matter, drainage
• Fruit Tree Score — Orchard potential based on drainage, pH, soil class, zone
• Water Security Score — Water access reliability (well, spring, creek, pond, irrigation)
• Solar Potential Score — Solar energy viability based on latitude, elevation, frost-free days
• Sustainability Score — Composite self-sufficiency rating

Input

Simple (single location)

{
    "latitude": 45.5231,
    "longitude": -122.6765
}

With address geocoding

{
    "address": "Willamette Valley, Oregon"
}

Batch (multiple locations)

{
    "locations": [
        { "latitude": 45.5231, "longitude": -122.6765 },
        { "latitude": 38.0293, "longitude": -78.4767 },
        { "address": "Napa Valley, California" }
    ]
}

With property features (improves scores)

{
    "latitude": 45.5231,
    "longitude": -122.6765,
    "acreage": 40,
    "features": {
        "has_well": true,
        "has_vineyard": true,
        "has_irrigation": true
    }
}

Available feature flags

Feature	Effect on scores
has_vineyard	+15 vineyard score
has_orchard	+20 fruit tree score
has_garden	+15 garden score
has_irrigation	+15 garden, +10 water security
has_well	+35 water security
has_spring	+25 water security
has_creek_river	+25 water security
has_pond_lake	+15 water security
has_solar	+30 solar potential
is_off_grid	+10 solar, +10 sustainability
has_battery_storage	+5 solar potential
has_septic	+5 sustainability

Output

Each location produces one dataset item:

{
    "latitude": 45.5231,
    "longitude": -122.6765,
    "soil": {
        "soilName": "Woodburn silt loam",
        "farmlandClass": "Prime farmland",
        "drainageClass": "Moderately well drained",
        "soilPh": 5.8,
        "organicMatterPct": 2.5,
        "hydraulicConductivity": 4.23,
        "soilClass": 1
    },
    "climate": {
        "hardinessZone": "8b",
        "hardinessZoneNumeric": 8.5,
        "avgAnnualMinTempF": 19.3,
        "frostFreeDays": 245,
        "avgAnnualPrecipitationInches": 42.1,
        "elevationMeters": 61.0
    },
    "capabilityScores": {
        "vineyardScore": 85,
        "gardenScore": 70,
        "fruitTreeScore": 80,
        "waterSecurityScore": 12,
        "solarPotentialScore": 18,
        "sustainabilityScore": 35
    }
}

Who is this for?

• Farmers & ranchers evaluating land purchases
• Wine industry professionals assessing vineyard potential
• Real estate investors in rural and agricultural markets
• Homesteaders planning self-sufficient properties
• Ag-tech companies building land assessment tools
• Researchers studying soil quality and climate patterns
• Insurance companies assessing agricultural risk

Rate limits & performance

• USDA Soil Data Access: No formal rate limit, but the actor uses polite delays (0.3s between requests)
• Open-Meteo: Adaptive rate limiting — starts at 1 req/sec, backs off on 429 errors (doubles delay up to 60s), recovers on success
• Geocoding (Nominatim): 1 request/second per usage policy
• Typical speed: ~2–5 seconds per location (dominated by Open-Meteo historical data fetch)
• Batch runs: 100 locations in ~5–8 minutes

Cost

This actor uses Pay Per Event pricing at $0.01 per property enriched. Both underlying data sources (USDA and Open-Meteo) are free — you only pay for the enrichment processing.