Imatge

The ICGC and the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda (DACC) of the Generalitat de Catalunya collaborate in the work of classifying the agrological capacity of soils based on the Soil mapping program at a scale of 1:25,000.

Agrological capacity is a way of grouping soils based on their capacity to sustainably produce the most common crops in an area. Establishing the agrological capacity of a soil is therefore equivalent to classifying the soil according to its production capacity and the risk of losing this capacity.

The characterization of the agrological capacity of soils allows any soil to be classified in one of the eight classes established in the system, depending on its characteristics and those of the environment in which it is located (Klingebiel and Montgomery, 1961).

These classes, initially defined by the Soil Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, have been adapted to our conditions by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and modified by the Agricultural Resources Assessment Section of the Agricultural Production Service of the DARP (1995) and subsequently modified by DARP-ICGC published as Specifications for the Determination of Agrological Capacity Classes in Annex 1 of the DARP document (2020).

Last update

• Date: May 2025.

Description of the agrological capacity classes of soils

Symbol	Label	Class	Description
	I	Class I	Soils with no limitations for use. They support a wide range of crops or other uses with high productivity. These soils typically occur in very flat areas with minimal erosion risk and no flooding issues caused by the river network. The few conservation practices required are solely aimed at maintaining their productivity.
	II	Class II	Soils with some limitations for use, which may reduce the number of crops that can be grown and/or require moderate conservation practices to prevent degradation (e.g., contour farming) or to improve productivity (e.g., drainage).
	III	Class III	Soils with significant limitations for use (e.g., low available water capacity, moderate slopes, high water table), which reduce the number of viable crops and/or require very careful management and conservation practices.
	IV	Class IV	Soils with very severe limitations for use (e.g., limited rooting depth, low available water capacity, steep slopes, poor drainage and waterlogging, frequent flooding, salinity, sodicity, and erosion features), which greatly restrict the range of suitable crops and/or require very careful management and conservation practices.
	V	Class V	Soils with low erosion risk but with other edaphic or physical limitations that are difficult to correct (e.g., shallow rooting depth, salinity, sodicity, waterlogging, or rock outcrops), making cultivation impractical and restricting use to pasture, forestry, or nature reserves.
	VI	Classe VI	Soils with major limitations (e.g., rooting depth, steep slopes, rock outcrops) that make them unsuitable for agriculture and limit their use to pasture, forestry, or nature reserves.
	VII	Class VII	Soils with major limitations (e.g., rooting depth, steep slopes, rock outcrops) that make them unsuitable for agriculture and limit their use to pasture, forestry, or nature reserves.
	VIII	Class VIII	Soils and miscellaneous areas with such extreme limitations (e.g., rooting depth, extreme slopes, rock outcrops) that they are completely excluded from commercial use and limited to landscape, recreation, nature reserves, or water reserves. Includes rock outcrops, beaches, riverbeds, mine dumps...
Imatge	AM	Miscellaneous Area	Miscellaneous areas not evaluated

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References 

• Ministerio de Agricultura (1974). Caracterización de la capacidad agrológica de los suelos de España. Metodología y normas. 47 pp. 
• Klingebiel, A.A.; P.H. Montgomery (1961). Land-capability classification. Soil Conservation Service, US Departament of Agriculture. 21 pp.