Abstract
I examine the oft-stated belief that urbanization causes a decline in agricultural activity. Quantitative and structural changes in the agricultural sector between 1969 and 1982 were analyzed for 190 counties in the densely-populated north-eastern region of the United States. Population density, population growth, the farmer/non-farmer ratio in the rural population and the rate of increase in farmland prices were at most weakly correlated with changes in the number of farms, land in farms or total sales of agricultural products. Nor were they related to the changes in the proportion of farmland in crops or sales of agricultural products ha -1 of farmland. However, these demographic conditions were strongly associated with differences in types of farm, especially part-time vs. full-time and intensive crop farming vs. extensive livestock production. Some of these qualitative adjustments may counteract the most apparent and direct disadvantages of farming in the metropolitan environment.
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