OpTIS

CTIC has partnered with Regrow and The Nature Conservancy on the development, testing and application of the Operational Tillage Information System (OpTIS), an automated system to map tillage, residue cover, winter cover, and soil health practices using remote sensing data. While OpTIS calculations are performed at the farm-field scale using publicly available data, the privacy of individual producers is fully protected by reporting only spatially-aggregated results at regional and watershed scales.

OpTIS-based data are currently available for the years 2005 through 2021. The new dataset released in January 2023 uses updated algorithms for all 16 states in the "extended corn belt." The data are presented in the context of a two-year crop rotation with options to review by the previous and following cash crop for both tillage and winter cover. Both the OpTIS and DNDC pages include new charts and maps to further enhance identification of trends and opportunities to promote the adoption of conservation practices.