Excerpt
“PLANT the best, save the rest” is a cornerstone of land use planning in agricultural areas. Unfortunately, identifying the “best” land is not always easy. Most analytical models of land value have two main components, which are usually described as linear scales or graph axes (4). One scale is a measure of productivity—the ability of the land to yield food or fiber crops. The other scale represents some measure of freedom from limitations, such as soil hazards that add risk or otherwise increase the cost of production. Together, these two ideas provide a framework for evaluating alternative land uses. However, any model is a simplified version of the real world, and there may be regions for which the model in its present form is not valid. Identifying regions with problems can improve our confidence in using the model in those places where it does seem to work. At the same time, knowing the geographic extent of problems can help improve the model in those places where it is less effective.
Previous studies of soil evaluation have found significant geographic variations …
Footnotes
Phil Gersmehl and Dwight Brown are professors and Bryan Baker is a research assistant in the Department of Geography, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455.
- Copyright 1989 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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