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- Info
The farmer's response to urbanization: A study of the middle Atlantic states
| Author: |
Berry, David; Leonardo, Ernest; Bieri, Kenneth |
| Date: |
1976 |
| Periodical: |
RSRI discussion paper series No. 92. Philadelphia, PA: Regional Science Research Institute.Regional Science Research Institute |
| Abstract: |
Besides the actual conversion of land from rural to urban uses, urbanization indirecly affects agricultural activity. Regulations on farming activity to suit new urban neighbors, increased property taxes, and so on spill over from urban areas into the countryside. These effects coupled with speculation in land lead to a feeling of impermanence toward the future of agriculture. Using qualitative interview data and quantitative county and township level data it was found that urbanization influences dairying more than any other type of agriculture. The long time horizan needed for investment in dairying is subjected to uncertainties created by urbanization and consequently dairy farming is declining in metropolitan and rapidly growing non-metropolitan counties. Other types of farming requiring shorter term investments seem less influenced by urbanization effects, although farmers are nonetheless inconvenienced by these effects. In response some farmers have worked harder at community relations, accommodate their operations to urban nuisances, and acted collectively to help enact legislation on differential assessment of farmland and, in New York, to participate in the agricultural districting program. |
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