What is a Common Land Unit?

A Common Land Unit is a single farming parcel with a permanent, contiguous boundary and consistent management. It’s the basic building block the Farm Service Agency uses to organize field records.

CLU boundaries follow features such as fences, waterways or woodlands that do not change from year to year. By linking each CLU to ownership and crop data, agencies and producers can easily match tabular records to a real‑world map.

Digitizing CLUs into GIS makes acreage calculations quick and accurate. It also enables high‑quality map printing, disaster program delivery and the integration of satellite imagery, soil data and other layers.

Because CLUs provide a common framework for locating data, they improve communication between service centers, farmers and software applications. That’s why understanding the definition is key to making the most of the 2008 dataset.