With an area of more than 63,000 km2, the agricultural zone covers the territory of metropolitan communities, census metropolitan areas, census agglomerations and 954 municipalities located in the 17 administrative regions of Quebec. The lands included in the agricultural zone are mainly located in southern Quebec, along the St. Lawrence River and in some peripheral regions, in short, where the biophysical environment offers the best characteristics for agricultural activities. · Source of the digital agricultural zone. The reference documents used as the basis for the digitization of the agricultural zone are: the Quebec Topographic Database (BDTQ) at a scale of 1:20 ,000, the cadastral compilation at a scale of 1:20 ,000, the official maps of the boundary of the agricultural zone and their technical descriptions. · Warnings and limitations o The No inclusion or exclusion. o The numerical boundaries of the agricultural area have been visually validated by overlaying the boundaries shown on the official maps. This first version was produced and distributed in response to repeated requests from various organizations for a general overview of the agricultural area. It has no legal value. In fact, the 1:20 ,000 scale paper plans accompanying government decrees establishing agricultural zones by municipality constitute the official and legal version of the boundaries of the agricultural zone. These plans are deposited with the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec, the rights advertising officer and the clerk or secretary-treasurer of the local municipality concerned. The renovated cadastre has the advantage of being more precise and structured than the cadastral compilation. On the other hand, it should be noted that the agricultural area was demarcated using the cadastral compilation. As a result, the zoning assigned to a renovated lot is sometimes difficult to establish with certainty in cases where one is located close to the boundary between the agricultural and non-agricultural areas. This difficulty arises from the discrepancy between the boundaries of the lots of the cadastral compilation and the renovated cadastre. Therefore, to minimize the risk of misinterpretation, refer to the 1:20 ,000 scale paper plans or contact our information service to determine the zoning assigned to a lot. A project to adjust the boundary of the agricultural area to the cadastral renovation lots is under way. o During digitization, trade-offs had to be made when there was a discrepancy between the elements of digital sources and the same elements from the official maps of the agricultural area. In addition, the assembly of paper maps into a continuous digital agricultural zone reveals a lack of uniformity in the boundaries of the agricultural zone in water environments. A revision to correct this lack of consistency is under consideration, although it has legal constraints. Purpose: Representation of Quebec's agricultural zone

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