Copernicus expands agricultural monitoring with the support of VITO’s remote sensing expertise
On 13 May 2025, the European Environment Agency (EEA) announced a significant milestone within the Pan-European component of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS). For the first time, the portfolio of High Resolution Layers (HRL) is being expanded with an entirely new thematic layer: HRL Cropland. This development, carried out in close cooperation with VITO, marks a major leap forward in the detailed monitoring of agricultural land across Europe.
Flemish expertise in European Agricultural Monitoring
The newly released HRL Cropland layer represents a major advancement in agricultural mapping across Europe, spearheaded by VITO. Developed under the Copernicus Earth observation program, this high-resolution (10-meter) resource provides unparalleled insights into crop distribution and farming practices across the continent.
“These datasets are crucial tools for anyone looking to track changes in European agriculture,” explains Kasper Bonte, R&D expert at VITO. “They offer objective and timely information for policymakers, academic researchers, and farming organisations to monitor crop cycles, fallow land usage, and the practice of multiple annual harvests.”
Key insights from the updated Cropland Layer
Derived from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, the Cropland products feature five thematic indicators designed to reflect actual agricultural practices:
- Main crops: Identification of the timing and duration of primary crops.
- Uncovered soils: Detection of land without vegetation throughout the year.
- Second crops: Recognition of additional harvests within the same growing season.
- Fallow land: Mapping parcels set aside temporarily from farming.
- Annual crop characteristics: Evaluation of crop rotation and cultivation intensity over three consecutive years.
Left figure: Evolution of crop types in an agricultural area in the northwest of the Netherlands
Right figure: Seasonal development of the main crop in an agricultural area in the northwest of the Netherlands
Future-oriented monitoring
The launch of the HRL Cropland layer marks the completion of a longstanding gap within the CLMS portfolio. Thanks to the detailed datasets, policy decisions related to agriculture, food security, and sustainability can be more effectively supported.
The datasets are now freely available for analysis via the Copernicus CLMS platform. Future updates covering the period 2022–2024 are already in preparation and will once again include full coverage of the United Kingdom.
Want to know more?
For more information or collaborations, contact Kasper Bonte.
View the datasets via Copernicus Land Monitoring Service.
About the HRL Consortium
The High Resolution Layer (HRL) products are developed by a consortium of European partners. GAF (Germany) leads the forest component, GeoVille (Austria) is responsible for grassland mapping and product distribution, and VITO (Belgium) manages the development of cropland layers. Together, they harness satellite data to advance a smarter and greener Europe.
