ABSTRACT:
Changes in the quality of the cropland base due to urban growth in 135 1970s and 115 1980s fast-growth counties were investigated using paired-point aerial photography and the 1987 National Resources Inventory. Land quality was assessed using the USDA prime farmland definition, LCCI-III, and potential gross revenue per cropped acre. The empirical evidence did not support conventional wisdom regarding concentration and urbanization of better quality land in urbanizing areas. Evidence on net changes in cropland quality was mixed: quality declined using the prime land and LCC I-III measures, but potential gross revenue per acre increased.
Footnotes
The authors are agricultural economists, Resources and Technology Division, Economic Research Service, USDA. The findings presented here are not necessarily official positions of the US. Department of Agriculture.
- Copyright 1994 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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