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Agricultural Adaptation to Urbanization: Farm Types in Northeast Metropolitan Areas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Ralph E. Heimlich  and
Charles H. Barnard
Ralph E. Heimlich
Affiliation:
Water and Agricultural Policy Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Charles H. Barnard
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Rural Economy Divisions, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC
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Extract

Metropolitan agriculture is not homogeneous. This paper delves beneath metropolitan county averages using data on individual farms in the Northeast classified into three statistically distinct types. A small group of adaptive farms profit from intensive production on smaller acreage to accommodate themselves to the urban environment. Traditional farms have increased costs and pressures on their more extensive operations without compensating increases in revenue from better-adapted enterprises. A large group of recreational farms subsidize small-farm activities from nonfarm income. Operating characteristics of each farm type are presented and their importance to metropolitan agriculture is assessed. Implications for preserving farming and farmland in the Northeast are drawn.

Type
The Changing Composition of the Agricultural Industry
Information
Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , April 1992 , pp. 50 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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Footnotes

The views presented here are the authors’ and do not necessarily represent policies or views of the U.S. EPA or U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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