In order to conduct an evaluation of which land would be  suitable for agriculture, the data had to be altered

 

Data manipulations

 

Ecodistrict data was clipped from the whole of Canada using a basemap of the Northwest Territories.  A .dbf table for soil texture was then joined, giving a soil classification for each ecodistrict.  This vector layer was then converted to raster and reclassified into a 1-5 scale, with 5 being most suitable for agriculture   

Texture	Class
# - n/a, snow/ice/urban	1
CY: clay	2
SD: sand	3
CL: clay loam SL: sand loam	4
LM: loam	5

Clay loam and Sand loam are negligibly different in supporting plant growth, so I’ve grouped both these into class 4 

 

The climate data (precipitation and temperature) had to be calculated to determine first the average over the three months (June, July and August) for each year, and then the ten-year average for the three months.  First the point files for each month was joined into one point layer.  Then I used the Add Field and Calculate tools within the attribute table to get the averages.  This was done for Past and Future of both Precipitation and Temperature data

 

The resulting point layers were then joined to a shapefile for ecodistricts (which was clipped previously from Agriculture and Agri-Food data), and maps were produced showing the ten-year average temperature and precipitation for June, July and August per each ecodistrict

 

These vector layers were then converted into raster, and reclassified on a 1-5 scale

 

Temperature has to be >5 Celsius for agriculture, which is 278.15 kelvin, so I put all the values below this into category 1, unsuitable.  Temperatures in the Northwest Territories do not go above the too hot threshold, even in future predictions, so my top values are best

 

Precipitation range (mm/month)	Class
Low value - 35	1
35 - 45	2
45 - 55	3
55 - 60	4
60 - high value	5

Temperature range (kelvin)		Class
Low value – 278		1
278 – 279		2
279 – 280		3
280 – 281		4
281 – High value	5

 

The slope map was generated from the Canadian Digital Elevation Model system, which came out in degrees slope from horizontal.  This raster layer was first clipped to the study area (ecodistrict shapefile), then reclassified on a 1-5 scale to match the other layers 

 

Range (slope degrees)	Class
25 – 52.67	1
15 – 25	2
10 – 15	3
5 – 10	4
0 – 5	5

 

Class 1 is the cutoff limit for each (eg. below 5 C, above 25 degrees slope, below 35 mm/month rain, and not soil), therefore classes above 1 can support agriculture, but may range from poor to ideal land