Ask Extension
Organization
- Active
- Free
The national ask-an-expert service that routes your question, photos included, to Extension staff.
Submit a question, get an answer from a local expert in days, free.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
The Agriculture Resource Library · Look it up
Data and APIs for growers.
Most of the best agricultural data in the world is public: your tax dollars already paid for it. The catch is that nobody tells you it exists or what it is good for. That is this shelf's whole job. The builder-grade entries also note when a source has an API a small controller or a Home Assistant setup can call directly.
This is one shelf of The Agriculture Resource Library, 47 entries strong. Search every shelf at once in the card catalog, or suggest a resource we missed.
Wire it into your dashboard
Some of these sources are pages you visit. The ones below are feeds a small computer can call: a Home Assistant setup, an ESP32, or a script on the shelf in your barn. Every one is free. Two need no key at all, which makes them the right first wire-up.
- Open-Meteo, no key: the best forecast feed for a grower's dashboard, blending 15+ national weather models, and it serves soil temperature, soil moisture, and reference evapotranspiration alongside the forecast. Home Assistant has a built-in integration; an ESP32 can call it directly. Free for non-commercial use.
- National Weather Service API, no key: the official US forecast and every frost and storm alert, straight from the source. Also a built-in Home Assistant integration. When a freeze warning should turn on your stock-tank heater, this is the feed.
- NASA POWER: solar and agroclimate data for any point on Earth, with an excellent REST API. The right numbers for sizing a solar setup or a greenhouse.
- OpenET, free key: satellite-measured evapotranspiration for your actual fields, monthly, across 48 states. Free irrigation auditing from space.
- USDA NASS Quick Stats, free key: every crop, county, and year of US agricultural statistics, queryable. Benchmark your yields against your own county.
- USDA Market News API, free key: the daily wholesale price reports, as data. Prices flowing into your own spreadsheet instead of price blindness.
- SoilGrids and NRCS Soil Data Access: one-time programmatic lookups of the soil under any point, global and official-US respectively.
- USA-NPN geoservices: accumulated growing degree days and pest-emergence forecast layers for any point, the feed behind "when does this pest hatch at my location."
- The state networks: CIMIS in California, AgWeatherNet in Washington, FAWN in Florida, the Oklahoma Mesonet. Free accounts, station-grade ET and frost data. If you farm in one of these states, the nearest station is better than any model.
Our build configurations show what to do with these once they land in Home Assistant, and the water and crop water stress pages show why evapotranspiration is worth wiring in at all.
The shelf
The full data landscape below: weather and climate, satellites, soil, pests and diagnostics, varieties and seed, markets and prices, and the reference works. Each card says what a grower actually does with the source.
47 entries
Bugwood Image Database
Dataset
- Active
- Free
Three hundred thousand curated, identification-verified photos of pests, diseases, and weeds.
Compare your mystery damage against verified reference photos.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Climate Engine
Software tool
- Active
- Free
- Link unresponsive at last check
On-demand maps and charts of satellite and climate data for any polygon you draw, powered by Earth Engine, no coding.
Chart drought, NDVI, and precipitation history for your exact ground.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Climate Smart Farming (Cornell)
Software tool
- Active
- Free
Cornell's suite of climate decision tools for Northeast farms: growing degree days, water deficit, freeze risk.
Run the water deficit calculator and know when to irrigate.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
CoCoRaHS
Community
- Active
- Free
The volunteer precipitation observer network: join with a forty-dollar gauge and see hyperlocal rainfall maps your neighbors report.
Rainfall truth for your neighborhood, and a citizen-science community to join.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Copernicus Browser
Dataset
- Active
- Free
ESA's free portal for Sentinel satellite imagery: ten meter resolution, roughly five-day revisit, with vegetation indexes built in.
NDVI of your own fields every few days, free, no GIS degree needed.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Cornell CASH soil health test
Reference work
- Active
- Paid
The standard comprehensive soil health assessment, biological and physical indicators included, with a free interpretation manual.
A soil test that measures health, not just fertility, and the free manual to understand it.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Cornell Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The citizen-science database of vegetable variety ratings: taste, yield, and ease from real gardens.
Check the ratings before betting a season on an unknown variety.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Cornell Vegetables (commercial)
Reference work
- Active
- Free
Commercial variety trial results, planting dates, and disease-resistance tables.
The disease-resistant variety list for each crop, before you order seed.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
data.gov agriculture
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The federal open-data catalog's agriculture group: thousands of datasets, one search, with a CKAN API.
If a federal agency published it, it is findable here.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
EDDMapS
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The early detection and mapping system for invasive species: see what is confirmed in your county and report sightings.
Which invasives have reached your county, mapped.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
FAOSTAT
Data / API
- Active
- Free
FAO's global food and agriculture statistics for two hundred forty-five countries, with an API.
The world picture on any crop, for market context.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
FieldWatch (DriftWatch and BeeCheck)
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The national map registry of specialty crop fields and apiaries that commercial spray applicators check before they spray, covering about twenty-seven states.
Register your farm and hives so the sprayer sees you first. The highest-leverage free action near row-crop country.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
GARDIAN
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The pan-CGIAR search engine over a hundred thousand publications and thousands of datasets from fifteen research centers.
Global crop research data, one search.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
GRIN-Global germplasm system
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The US National Plant Germplasm System: six hundred thousand seed accessions, and yes, they will mail you samples of rare varieties for trial and breeding, free.
Request seed of landraces you cannot buy anywhere. Most growers have no idea this exists.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
iNaturalist
Community
- Active
- Free
The global crowdsourced species identification platform, computer vision plus experts, with an open API.
Snap any unknown insect or weed and get an identification.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
NASA FIRMS fire information
Data / API
- Active
- Free
Fire detection from satellites in near real time, free with a key.
Active-fire alerts for your area, from orbit.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
NASA POWER
Data / API
- Active
- Free
NASA's agroclimatology data service: solar radiation, temperature, and humidity for any point on earth, with a clean REST API.
Solar data for greenhouse siting or panel sizing, anywhere, free.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
National Plant Diagnostic Network
Organization
- Active
- Free
The lab network behind the land-grant plant clinics: a real diagnostic lab in every state.
Mail a sample, get a definitive disease identification, usually for a token fee.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
National Weather Service API
Data / API
- Active
- Free
The National Weather Service's free forecast and alerts API, no key required.
Official forecasts and frost warnings wired straight into your own dashboard or automation.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
NEWA
Software tool
- Active
- Free
The Network for Environment and Weather Applications: seven hundred on-farm stations across twenty states driving forty-plus disease and insect forecast tools.
Research-grade apple scab, fire blight, and late blight risk forecasts from a station near your farm, free.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
NOAA Climate Data Online
Data / API
- Active
- Free
Historical US station climate records: the archive behind thirty-year normals and frost-date history.
The real frost dates for your nearest station, not the folklore ones.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
NOAA Storm Events Database
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The historical record of storms, hail, and severe weather by county.
Documentation for insurance and the honest history of what weather your county gets.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
NRCS Soil Data Access
Data / API
- Active
- Free
Direct query access to the national soils database: SQL over REST.
Soil properties for any field polygon, programmatically.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Open-Meteo
Data / API
- Active
- Free
An open-source weather API blending fifteen-plus national models, no key required, with soil temperature, soil moisture, and reference evapotranspiration among its variables.
The easiest forecast feed for an ESP32 or Home Assistant dashboard; there is already an HA integration.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
OpenET
Data / API
- Active
- Free
Satellite-measured evapotranspiration at field scale across forty-eight states, with the FARMS tool for individual farmers and a REST API.
See how much water your fields actually consumed, monthly, free. This was thousands of dollars a field a decade ago.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Plants For A Future
Dataset
- Active
- Free
A database of seven thousand edible and useful plants with cultivation details.
Research the uncommon perennial and permaculture crops nobody else documents.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
PlantVillage
Software tool
- Active
- Free
AI plant disease diagnosis, trained on more than fifty thousand images, that runs on a phone even offline.
Photograph a sick leaf and get a diagnosis on the spot.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
PRISM Climate Group
Dataset
- Active
- Free
Gridded US climate normals and dailies at eight hundred meter resolution.
The true thirty-year precipitation and temperature normals for your exact parcel.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
SeedLinked
Software tool
- Active
- Freemium
A crowdsourced variety-trial platform: ratings from dozens of real farms per variety.
How a variety actually performed across farms in your climate.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
SoilGrids
Data / API
- Active
- Free
Global machine-learning soil property maps at two hundred fifty meters, with a REST API.
Soil estimates for anywhere on earth the US survey does not reach.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
SoilWeb
Software tool
- Active
- Free
The soil survey on a map: tap anywhere and see the full soil profile, on the web or the phone app.
Stand in a field and see the mapped soil under your boots, in real time.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
State agricultural mesonets
Dataset
- Active
- Free
Many states run agricultural weather networks: Oklahoma's Mesonet is the gold standard, with AgWeatherNet in Washington, FAWN in Florida, CIMIS in California, and AgriMet in the Northwest.
Hourly soil moisture, ET, and frost data from real stations in your state, usually free.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Synoptic Data
Data / API
- Active
- Freemium
An aggregator API over a hundred thousand US weather stations, including many mesonets.
One API call to the nearest station of any network.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
UC IPM
Reference work
- Active
- Free
The most complete free integrated pest management encyclopedia: identification, thresholds, and management by crop, plus degree-day tools and bee precaution ratings.
Look up any pest and get research-backed thresholds and least-toxic controls first.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USA National Phenology Network
Data / API
- Active
- Free
Daily gridded accumulated growing degree day maps and pest emergence forecasts, plus the Nature's Notebook citizen science program.
National degree-day maps and pheno-forecasts you can pull by point through their geoserver.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USDA Ag Data Commons
Dataset
- Active
- Free
USDA's public repository of research datasets: the raw data behind the papers, from trials to soils to genomics.
Pull the actual datasets behind USDA research instead of just reading summaries.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USDA AMS Market News
Data / API
- Active
- Free
Daily wholesale and terminal-market price reports for produce, livestock, and grain, with a free API.
What your crop actually sold for at the nearest terminal market, so you never price blind.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USDA CropScape and the Cropland Data Layer
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The annual satellite-derived crop map of the entire country, now at ten meter resolution, going back more than fifteen years.
See what every field around you grew for the last fifteen years. Rotation intel nobody realizes is public.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USDA ERS Data Products
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The Economic Research Service's datasets: costs of production, the food dollar, and market outlooks.
Benchmark your enterprise budget against national cost-of-production data.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USDA Local Food Portal
Dataset
- Active
- Free
USDA's directories of farmers markets, CSAs, food hubs, and on-farm markets, with an API. The same well our Ag Atlas draws from.
List your operation where the government looks, and find every market within driving distance.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USDA NASS Quick Stats
Data / API
- Active
- Free
The most comprehensive US agricultural statistics database: every crop, county, and year, including the Census of Agriculture, with a free keyed API.
County-level yields, acreage, and prices to benchmark your own operation against.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USDA PLANTS Database
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The authoritative US plant database: taxonomy, distribution by county, and characteristics.
Verify any plant's identity, native status, and range.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
USGS EarthExplorer
Dataset
- Active
- Free
The full Landsat archive, more than fifty years of it, free to download.
Decades of imagery of your land, for documenting long-term change.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
uspest.org degree-day models
Software tool
- Active
- Free
A hundred and fifty degree-day pest and plant models runnable against twenty thousand US stations, with maps.
When does this pest hatch at MY place, answered for the whole country.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Veggie Compass
Software tool
- Active
- Free
The UW-Madison whole-farm profit-management tool for diversified vegetable farms. Its old standalone domain was dropped and squatted; this is the real home.
Work out your true cost and profit per crop per sales channel.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Web Soil Survey
Software tool
- Active
- Free
The official USDA soil survey for nearly every American acre: draw your boundary, get a custom soil report.
Your soil series, drainage class, and capability rating, mapped before you dig.
Visit ↗Checked Aug 30, 2026
Frequently asked questions.
Where can I get free weather data for my farm?
Two front doors. The National Weather Service API is free, needs no key, and serves forecasts for any point in the country. Open-Meteo is free for non-commercial use, also keyless, and adds history and agricultural variables like soil temperature and evapotranspiration. Both are on this shelf, and both are friendly enough to wire into a small controller or Home Assistant.
Is there free soil data for my fields?
Yes. USDA's Web Soil Survey maps soil types for nearly every acre in the country, free, from decades of field survey. SoilGrids does the same globally from satellite and model data. Between them you can pull texture, drainage class, and typical properties for any field you farm before you ever pay for a soil test.
Where do I find current crop prices?
USDA Market News publishes wholesale and terminal-market prices for produce, livestock, and grain, updated continuously, free. It is the same feed the big buyers watch. Our card links the grower-friendly front door and notes the API for anyone who wants prices flowing into their own spreadsheet.