Agriculture covers nearly 40% of ice-free land, and as such, has an enormous influence on ecological systems worldwide. The intensification and spread of agricultural lands have driven changes in land cover composition and configuration, with consequences for habitat availability, quality and connectivity, as well as ecosystem service provision including pest control, pollination, and air and water quality. While the challenges to increasing the sustainability of agriculture with a larger population and a more variable climate are undoubtedly considerable, the availability of new data and informatics approaches provide exciting ways to reconcile human and natural system needs at spatial and temporal scales otherwise infeasible. The goal of this session is to elucidate how innovative data-driven approaches can enhance understanding of the vital connections critical to productive and ecologically functioning agricultural ecosystems. Speakers with a diversity of topical and technical expertise will provide an overview of how increasingly available satellite and survey data can revolutionize both ecological understanding and on-the-ground management. We will cover a wide-range of topics at the intersection of spatial ecology and sustainable agriculture with a thematic focus on understanding how land use and climate change affect agricultural production (yields, input use, pests) and where opportunities exist for win-wins for agriculture and conservation. Together, the series of talks in this session will illustrate the potential of data-driven techniques to complement and extend traditional ecological approaches in hopes of ensuring the vital connections that underly ecological function in agricultural ecosystems.