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- Info
The urban/rural interface and the preservation of farming
| Author: |
Conklin, H.E. |
| Date: |
1982 |
| Periodical: |
Cornell Agricultural Economics Staff Paper No. 82-9 |
| Abstract: |
Urban growth is cutting agricultural production two ways: by moving onto farm land and by discouraging farmers from updating farm real estate improvements. The urban/rural interface no longer is a sharp line. Urban influences have penetrated deeply into most farm areas over large parts of the nation. Farmers often are outnumbered by nonfarm neighbors. Nonfarm rural people are growing in numbers faster than other components of our population. The debilitation of agriculture caused by the scattering of nonfarm people into rural areas is cutting production more than the physical transfer of land to subdivisions, shopping centers, and the like though both are important. There are two ways to reduce urban impacts on agriculture: a) Keep the nonfarmers out of farm areas. b) Facilitate the coexistence of farm and nonfarm people in an intermingled pattern. Keeping nonfarmers out is favored by professional planners but is difficult and expensive. Some methods will work in selected circumstances, especially close-by locations. Special forms of zoning and government purchase of development rights are most promising. Facilitating coexistence is more common at present. Farm-value assessments were an early start. Agricultural districts are more sophisticated. Methods can be further improved. There already is intermingled diversity in the rural areas of much of the nation. This cannot be rolled back. Special emphasis on new methods for facilitating coexistence seems justified. |
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