Farmland analysis
South Dakota Farmland Analysis
Soil quality, USDA cash-rent benchmarks, and solar and wind income, with CRP's enrollment status, for any South Dakota parcel, free, from 6 federal data sources.
AgriTerra Scout is a free tool for analyzing South Dakota farmland. Search an address or outline a parcel on the map and Scout reads its soil capability, USDA county cash-rent benchmarks, modeled solar and wind income, water and flood exposure, and conservation-program eligibility, all from 6 federal data sources, with the source and date on every number.
Coverage in South Dakota
Free in South Dakota: outline your field on the map, and Scout reads its soil, cash rent, water, flood, and wetlands and shows three uses for those acres side by side (farming it, cash rent, and a solar or wind lease, with CRP shown as paused while new enrollment is). Ohio and Indiana only for now: parcel maps you tap to select. Want one email when your county's parcel maps go live?
Got it. We'll email you once, when your county's parcel maps go live.
What Scout shows you in South Dakota
- Soil capability: NRCS SSURGO soil class, drainage, and productivity for the parcel. See how to read a soil survey and the soil productivity index.
- Cash rent: the USDA NASS county cash-rent average (the published figure), with a soil-adjusted range AgriTerra models from the parcel's soils.
- Solar & wind income: modeled from NREL PVWatts for solar and AgriTerra wind resource buckets over NREL/WINDExchange 100 m wind maps, as planning bands rather than developer offers. See the solar leasing guide and wind leasing guide.
- CRP: whether the soil data flags acres as likely eligible, and the program's status: new CRP enrollment is paused, so Scout shows no CRP rate. See how CRP works and CRP rates by state.
- Water & flood: USGS water data and the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer.
- Wetlands: USFWS National Wetlands Inventory classifications. See wetlands on your land and hydric soils.
South Dakota farmland at a glance
The Missouri River roughly divides South Dakota into row-crop country to the east and wheat-and-rangeland to the west. Eastern cropland values track the northern Corn Belt, while the west is grazing ground, a split that makes a parcel-level read especially useful before a lease or sale.
South Dakota farms grow corn and soybeans in the east, wheat and cattle in the west, and its cropland is east-of-the-river cropland far outpaces western rangeland. Because that value swings by county and soil, Scout reports the USDA benchmark for the exact parcel you look at rather than a statewide average. See what farmland produces and what it earns.
Analyzing a South Dakota parcel
Pre-loaded parcel boundaries are live in Ohio and Indiana first; in South Dakota you outline the parcel on the map with the draw tool (a partial slice of a larger field works too) and every federal data layer still reads for that exact footprint.
Once the parcel is set, Scout pulls every layer in parallel and lays the results out as a plain-language comparison (keep farming, cash-rent, enroll in CRP, or lease for solar or wind), each with a per-acre figure and the source behind it (CRP shows its status instead while new enrollment is paused). See the land-use optimizer for how the ranking works, check the South Dakota cash rent county table, compare a developer offer with the farm vs. solar vs. CRP tool, or farmland analysis in other states.
Evaluate South Dakota land for a living?
Work with landowners? Land Scout Pro opens Q1 2027 at $99 a month at launch, with white-label reports, client folders, and a multi-parcel portfolio view. Join the Pro waitlist.
South Dakota farmland: frequently asked questions
- Does AgriTerra work for South Dakota farmland?
- Yes. The federal data layers behind Scout (USDA soils and cash rent, NREL solar and wind, FEMA flood, USGS water, USFWS wetlands) are nationwide, so any South Dakota parcel can be analyzed for free. Pre-loaded parcel boundaries are live in Ohio and Indiana first; in South Dakota you outline the parcel on the map with the draw tool (a partial slice of a larger field works too) and every federal data layer still reads for that exact footprint.
- What is South Dakota farmland worth?
- South Dakota cropland is east-of-the-river cropland far outpaces western rangeland. Rather than quote a single statewide figure, Scout reports the USDA NASS cash-rent average for the county of the specific parcel you look at, the one figure NASS publishes, beside a soil-adjusted range that AgriTerra models from that parcel's soils, because value in South Dakota varies far more by county and soil than any state average captures.
- What grows on South Dakota farmland?
- South Dakota farms grow corn and soybeans in the east, wheat and cattle in the west. The Missouri River roughly divides South Dakota into row-crop country to the east and wheat-and-rangeland to the west. Eastern cropland values track the northern Corn Belt, while the west is grazing ground, a split that makes a parcel-level read especially useful before a lease or sale.
- Do I need an account to analyze a South Dakota parcel?
- No. You can search a South Dakota address, pick the parcel, and see soil and cash rent with no account. Running the solar, wind, and CRP comparison is free with a free account, 3 a month. An account or purchase only comes up for the full $89 Decision Report.
County average vs. a real parcel
The South Dakota state average is not your number.
South Dakota state average, 2026
$140/ac
USDA NASS, non-irrigated cropland
Your parcel
Run your own parcel to see the gap. Every South Dakota parcel reads differently on soil, drainage, and rotation.
Every parcel-scale figure is a Scout free read; see how we get our numbers. The state average anchor is the USDA NASS 2026 survey for non-irrigated cropland.
See what your South Dakota acres could earn.
Run the free analysis on any South Dakota parcel: soil, cash rent, and the solar/wind/CRP comparison, each with its source, in under a minute.
Free to start. The full Decision Report is $89.