Loss Of Farmland Research Articles

Detecting Urban Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes in Mississauga Using Landsat TM Images

The City of Mississauga in Ontario has been experiencing a fast urban growth in the past two decades which has caused rapid loss of the valuable farm and open space land. Land-use and land-cover maps of the City were produced from Landsat TM images for 1985 and 1999, spanning a period of 14 years. Dramatic changes in land use and land cover have occurred, with loss of forest, cropland and water body to urban use. In particular, low-density urban use, which includes largely residential use, has increased by over 7.4% between 1985 and 1999. These land-use and land-cover changes have drastically altered the land surface characteristics. An analysis of Landsat TM images revealed an increase of 23.7 km2 of built-up area and a decrease of non-built (23.2 km2) and water area (0.5 km2). This paper illustrates the usefulness of a remote sensing approach for the urban change studies. According to the land-use and land-cover maps, four vegetation-impervious surface-soil (V-I-S) patterns of the city development were identified pertain to Mississauga’s features.

Specialty Cropland in California

Census data do not support the widespread popular perception that urban encroachment on cropland in California is serious enough to justify programs of farmland preservation. Between 1949 and 1997 the acreage of harvested cropland declined near Los Angeles, in the San Francisco Bay area, and near Sacramento, but the high‐value specialty agricultural production displaced from these areas has been relocated to more distant areas, where it has replaced lower‐value field crops, and specialized agricultural production has increased steadily in the state. Vegetable production in the Salinas Valley and dairying near Los Angeles illustrate the twin processes of relocation and replacement. Urban encroachment actually has been a boon to California agriculture, because it has transferred massive amounts of urban capital to cash‐strapped farmers and enabled them to develop efficient modern operations. Much of the concern about loss of farmland really is concern about loss of open space and amenities, and urban demand for water probably will be a greater constraint on California agriculture than will urban demand for land.

Is There Evidence of a Critical Mass in the Mid-Atlantic Agriculture Sector Between 1949 and 1997?

Ongoing farmland loss has led county planners to ask “is there a critical mass of farmland needed?” to retain a viable agricultural sector. This study examines whether counties lost farmland at a faster rate if the number of agricultural acres fell below a critical threshold. Results from six Mid-Atlantic states over the period 1949 to 1997 indicate that counties with fewer agricultural acres lost farmland at a faster rate. However, after splitting the study period into two time segments (1949–1978 and 1978–1997) and modeling separately, this result was not found for the later time period, suggesting a uniform critical mass level may not exist. Population growth in a county accelerated farmland loss over all time periods.

Land resource impact indicators of urban sprawl

Sprawl has been loosely defined as dispersed and inefficient urban growth. We propose a series of five indicators that examine the per capita consumption of land taken in new development in relation to several critical land resource impacts associated to sprawl including: (1) density of new urbanization; (2) loss of prime farmland; (3) loss of natural wetlands; (4) loss of core forest habitat; and (5) increase of impervious surface. These Land Resource Impact (LRI) indicators were measured for each of New Jersey’s 566 municipalities using a 1986 to 1995 land use/land cover digital database along with US Census population data. By integrating population growth with land resource loss a more nuanced interpretation of land use change is provided than in previous analyses of sprawl.

Protecting Rural Amenities Through Farmland Preservation Programs

We investigate what farmland preservation programs reveal about the importance of protecting different rural amenities. An extensive content analysis of the enabling legislation of various farmland protection programs suggests wide variation exists in the protection of amenities. An analysis of 27 individual Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs’ selection criteria suggests these programs favor preserving amenities that are jointly provided by cropland and livestock operations. These PDR selection criteria also reveal unique preferences regarding the spatial patterns of preserved agricultural lands. Variation in relative weights given to protecting most parcel characteristics in PDR programs is not easily explained by factors that characterize areas experiencing farmland losses.

Trust, Membership in Groups, and Household Welfare: Evidence from KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa

Unfortunately these two literatures have remained largely unconnected. The group and network literature concludes that participation has important economic benefits even when the stated function of the group is noneconomic. In most cases however the mechanisms by which groups and networks achieve this are unclear. The determinants-of-trust and participation-in-groups literature highlights the importance of income and social homogeneity. What remains less understood is whether—and how—trust can be generated for example via participation in groups. This article links the empirical literatures referenced above by exploring the relationship between membership in groups and trust. Specifically using longitudinal data from KwaZulu-Natal Province South Africa we examine (1) the importance of trust in the decision to join groups; (2) the subsequent ability of groups to generate trust; and (3) the effect of group membership and trust on a measure of well-being per capita household income. In addition we disaggregate groups into financial and nonfinancial and we categorize “trust in people” by agent or actor. Therefore we can explore whether trust in different kinds of actors is important for participation in different kinds of groups and whether participation in different kinds of groups is important for generating trust in different kinds of actors. (excerpt)

China's land resources and land-use change: insights from the 1996 land survey

Studies of land-use change in China have long been hampered by the lack of accurate and reliable data. This research analyzes systematic data on land use gathered in the 1996 survey, the first nation-wide land survey ever conducted in the history of the People's Republic. The actual size of the Chinese territory on the mainland in 1996 was 9.5 million square kilometers, not 9.6 million as generally believed. It took the world's third largest position next to Russia and Canada. Over two-thirds or 67 percent of China's land coverage were devoted to agricultural activities. The bulk of the construction land was widely scattered in the countryside as a result of rural industrialization and urbanization. The 1996 land survey revealed a total cultivated land of 130 million hectares, nearly 40 percent more than what was reported by local cadres to the State Statistical Bureau. Much of the “discovered” farmland was located in the hilly and mountainous regions where the quality of land is low. Cultivated land per capita continued to drop because of the growing population. Only 14 percent of China's land was cultivable and cultivated land per capita was a mere 0.106 ha which was significantly smaller than the world's average of 0.236 ha. A comparison of data for 1949 and 1996 revealed a pattern of land-use change characterized by the expansion of cultivated and construction land at the expense of pasture and unused land subsequent to the environmentally disastrous campaigns of land reclamation. The processes of agricultural restructuring, rural industrialization, and rapid urbanization since the 1990s have given rise to a new trend of massive farmland loss for the benefits of market farming and non-agricultural developments. Newly reclaimed low-graded farmland in environmentally fragile frontier regions has never been able to compensate for the loss of fertile land in the southeastern part of the country where multiple cropping index and population density are high. There is pressing need for China to use its limited land resources most efficiently and effectively for the sake of not only its own growing population but also the globalizing world.

DEVELOPMENT ZONES AND URBAN LAND REFORM IN CHINA

Development zones boomed all over China in early 1990s and continue to operate today. This paper examines its economic rationale and impact on Chinese cities. Many existing studies treat development zones like enterprise zones or science parks and of ten blame them for land speculation and farmland loss. I argue that development zone may be better understood as a feasible transitory tool in urban land reform due to dynamic urban growth and its particular institutional form. However, development zones may have problematic impact on urban spatial structure in the long term. In this sense, it demonstrates the cost of partial reform in urban land use.

'It's All a Matter of Hats': Rural Urbanization in South-West China

Like many developing countries, rural China has been undergoing rapid urbanization. This article addresses the political and economic constraints that have come to shape the pattern of rural urbanization in the south-west of the country. As a means primarily to enhance the political career of local leadership, urbanization has been achieved at the expense of peasant livelihood. Fieldwork results show that prosperity and modernization in the urbanized areas are overshadowed by loss of farmland, environmental degradation and escalating financial burdens encountered by village residents. The outcome illustrates how politics determines the path of economic development in the locality, and who is the real beneficiary of urbanization.

Diminishing farmland and urban development in China: 1993–1996

Farmland conservation is a new perspective in China's development policy making. In this paper, we seek to explore the distribution patterns of farmland loss between regions and among city-size groups, and to examine the factors and institutional background that influence on farmland conservation. A random sample of 179 out of 666 cities in 1996 was selected. Data were collected from various sources for the period 1993–96. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and nonparametric tests were used to analyze the data. Three-dimensional maps were plotted to present the distribution patterns of farmland loss, urban population growth and real estate development. The empirical results reveal that regional and hierarchical variations did exist in farmland loss, so did in urban population growth and real estate development. Farmland loss was more severe a problem in cities along the coast, especially cities with a nonagricultural population over two million. Urban population growth and real estate development were two main factors causing farmland loss in cities. Poor legal ground for land administration, weak law enforcement, and the drive towards fast revenue making were the underlying problems that prevented effective farmland conservation. In China's current transition from a planned to a market economy, farmland conservation can succeed only if government officials were no longer to trade off sustainability of development with short-term, fast revenue making.

Placing the food system on the urban agenda: The role of municipal institutions in food systems planning

Food issues are generally regarded as agricultural and rural issues. The urban food system is less visible than such other systems as transportation, housing, employment, or even the environment. The reasons for its low visibility include the historic process by which issues and policies came to be defined as urban; the spread of processing, refrigeration, and transportation technology together with cheap, abundant energy that rendered invisible the loss of farmland around older cities; and the continuing institutional separation of urban and rural policy. Despite its low visibility, the urban food system nonetheless contributes significantly to community health and welfare; to metropolitan economies; connects to other urban systems such as housing, transportation, land use, and economic development; and impacts the urban environment. We examine existing or potential city institutions that could offer a more comprehensive look at the urban food system. These include the city department of food, the food policy council, and the city-planning department.

Rebuilding Local Food Systems From the Grassroots Up

The restructuring of the world food system under corporate control since the Second World War has resulted in a crisis with environmental, economic, and social dimensions. The symptoms of the crisis include loss of farmland and fan oers (and in the United States, especially minority farmers), impoverishment of rural economies and the decline of small towns, shrinking of the farmer's share of the food dollar, erosion of the soil, pollution of air and water with synthetic pesticides and farm run-off, the spread of monoculture and the correspondent decline of biodiversity—the litany of problems goes on and on. In the absence of a unified organizational response, a wide variety of individuals and groups have tackled different aspects of these problems and proposed solutions.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Determinants of Farmland Value: The Case of DeKalb County, Illinois

The issue of farmland facing conversion pressures from rapidly expanding suburban areas is increasingly well documented. In this study, the authors consider the case of DeKalb County, Illinois, fringe farmland bordering the Madison-Milwaukee-Chicago Triangle area, where there has been extensive development of some of the best farmland in the world. Data in this study were 34 arms-length sales of farmland parcels in 1995. Correlation and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression techniques were used to analyze the influence of large lot land use zoning, production factors, location, and various other characteristics, such as buyer and seller location, on the dependent variable of sales price per acre. Findings suggest that the most powerful factor in explaining the sales price per acre was whether the parcel was grandfathered as a small parcel (i.e., less than forty acres), presumably allowing for farmettes without an emphasis on production for individuals preferring to consume the benefits of a rural home. The next most powerful factors were: proximity to a highway, a state road, or a town; whether there was a house on the parcel; and whether the seller was from outside the county. The variance explained, adjusting for number of variables, was 63%, a fairly high proportion. Conclusions suggest that while farmland in DeKalb County is under conversion pressures, large lot zoning is an effective way of protecting farmland. T he movement of America's population away from central cities into adjacent rural counties has generated a series of difficult policy challenges for federal, state, and local governments. This great dispersal from the central cities, which has taken place since World War II and has accelerated since the 1970s (Brown, Heaton, and Hoffman), reversed a trend of movement from rural areas to the cities seen earlier in the century (Lockeretz; Vesterby and Heimlich). People leave central cities for many lifestyle and quality of life reasons, including the perceived advantages of country life with its slower pace, healthier environment, lower crime rates, and less expensive lifestyle (Nelson 1986a). However, this demographic trend also hastens the loss of prime farmland as agricultural land is converted to residential and commercial use (AFT 1994; Vesterby and Heimlich).

Cross-border regional development in Southern China

Cross-border zones have been developed rapidly in China since 1979. This was largely due to the global economic restructuring in the post-Fordist era. The enclave of Hong Kong plays an indispensable role in the process. While China adopts the Open Door Policy, factories in Hong Kong are quick to relocate to the Pearl River Delta region in order to benefit from the low production costs and other preferential policies. The paper first reviews the factors leading to the economic integration between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region of southern China. It then examines the sectoral changes and the socio-economic data of the region. Rapid urbanization and rural urbanization are reflected in the quest for infrastructural development plans and the loss of quality farmland. They also bring along environmental hazards. The paper concludes with the call for a comprehensive development strategy for the region into the next century.

Public Values, Private Lands: Farmland Preservation Policy, 1933-1985

Tim Lehman examines the political battles over public policies to protect farmland from urban sprawl. His detailed account clarifies three larger themes: the ongoing struggle over land use planning in this country, the emerging environmental critique of modern agriculture, and the use of social science expertise in policymaking. Federal efforts to preserve private farmlands began during the New Deal with modest soil conservation and land use initiatives, but stalled with the agricultural surpluses of the postwar decades. Land conservation interests reemerged during the 1970s as productivity plateaus, population growth, and the energy crisis heightened concern about the loss of high-quality farmland. Bureaucrats and social scientists were divided on the seriousness of the land problem. According to Lehman, the debate pitted a conservation mentality against a production mentality, virtually guaranteeing that consensus would be impossible. Land preservation initiatives of the 1970s achieved a belated and partial success with the conservation measures of the 1985 farm bill, Lehman says, but the ecological constraints on agriculture remain significant. Originally published in 1995. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Can we stop farmland losses? Population growth threatens agriculture, open space

California, the nation's top agricultural producer, also leads the states in the number of new residents added annually. California's population is projected to double to 63 million by 2040. If the resulting increase in urban acreage replaces farmland, California agriculture will lose nearly 5 million acres — 17% of today's total farmland base. With it will go open space, which is now a refuge for some wildlife. In the past, population growth did not reduce farmland acres because there was always more land to convert to agriculture. That scenario no longer exists due to limited cultivable land and water. Adaptations in farming practices and urban form such as higher densities and more compact development could limit the conversion of farmland to urban uses.

Arable Land Loss in Rural China: Policy and Implementation in Jiangsu Province

This article discusses the loss of farmland in Jiangsu Province China the Land Administration Law and the national effectiveness of land management policies. The article presents a description of the arable land loss in Jiangsu Province the land management bureaucracy and land management practices in three townships. Evidence reveals that arable land loss is continuing despite national efforts to slow or reverse the losses. The relationship between the Chinese state and townships is complex and far from unified. Local self-interests may differ from the interests of higher level leaders. The bureaucratic apparatus of the nation penetrates local areas but local bureaucrats must balance competing interests. Local leaders must place a priority on conservation of arable land. Arable land accounts for 9.96% of total land area. During 1949-92 cultivated land area declined by 2.51% but population increased from about 542 million to over 1.158 billion. Per capita arable land area declined from an estimated 2.71 mu to about 1.26 mu during 1949-91. Land losses resulted from expansion of rural housing factories roads and other construction projects during the 1980s. A National Land Administration Law was passed in 1986. An estimated 20-33% of reclaimed farmland escaped registration. A Land Management Bureau was set up with offices at all levels. Each township or town level government was required to work out a management plan that would restrict nonagricultural uses of land and promote construction on nonagricultural land. Capital construction must follow established rules and approval by governments. The law stipulates penalties and compensation. In Jiangsu 18% of farmland was lost during 1949-92. Per capita arable land declined from 2.35 mu to .98 mu in Jiangsu. Loss was primarily due to village construction. Administration of national law resulted in many cases of illegal land use. Land losses increased when rural economic growth increased during the 1990s.

Giving good reasons: Environmental appeals in the nonfiction of John McPhee

Within his substantial body of nonfiction, there is, I think, no single metaphor that better describes John McPhee's relationship with his readers and his subjects than does the title of his third collection of essays. 1 Giving Good Weight, the lead essay in the collection of the same name, is an account of greenmarkets in New York in the 1970s. As one of McPhee's subjects tells us, the markets were planned mainly as 'a natural answer to a twofold problem': loss of farmland in the metropolitan area and a lack of 'fresh, decent food' in the city, but it was hoped that, with the right attitude and a little luck, they would also start conversations, help resuscitate neighborhoods, brighten the aesthetic of the troubled town (34). It is characteristic of McPhee and crucial to our reading of the essay that the perspective we are given on the interaction between buyers and sellers is both McPhee's own and, to a large extent, that of his principal subjects. Characteristic, because McPhee consistently takes the side of those about whom he writes in his nonfiction; and in this case, he has done so quite literally: as the essay opens, the author is standing on the greenmarketers' side of the table, selling vegetables, discovering first-hand how it feels to face the urban hordes, who slit the tomatoes with [their] fingernails, excavate the cheese with their thumbs, pulp the nectarines and rape the sweet corn (3). Crucial, because in taking the greenmarketers' perspective, McPhee establishes an identification that has important consequences for our reading of the entire essay. They are good people, these greenmarketers honest, hardworking, and committed to what they do-and McPhee's ethos benefits from his respectful and respected association with them. The governing metaphor captures the essence of the piece and of McPhee's ethos in almost all of his nonfiction. Giving good weight: apart from its prominent post as title of the title essay, it is a phrase used only three times, yet it reverberates throughout one's reading; or more accurately, it galvanizes all the unspoken responses one has to the varied themes that play across the essay. To good weight means, literally, to be generous when selling produce, to give three-and-a-quarter pounds of tomatoes for the price of three. But it also means, not only metaphorically but actually, the fostering of human fellowship and trust-the forging of an almost palpable bond through an act of commercial generosity. When customers find out that a young teacher selling

INTERACTION OF LAND POLICY AND LAND-BASED TAX POLICY: THE VERMONT LAND GAINS TAX

In 1973, the State of Vermont became the first jurisdiction in the United States to enact a land gains tax. The tax had two purposes: raising revenue and deterrring land speculation and subdivision, which were changing the rural, village character of the state's landscape. The land gains tax derived from many of the same forces as Act 250, Vermont's 1970 land use planning and environmental control legislation. Both measures had many positive effects during the 1970s and 1980s, but, following continued growth, land speculation and subdivision, and loss of farmland in the state in the mid-1980s, both the land gains tax and land use planning and regulation were readdressed by the legislature in 1987 and 1988.

Nutrition and socio-economic development in Southeast Asia.

While most Third World countries, particularly in Africa and Latin America, have experienced a deterioration in child welfare as a result of the severe economic downturn in the 1980s, Southeast Asia in general managed to sustain improvements in the situation of its children because it has maintained satisfactory rates of economic growth. However, there were exceptions within Southeast Asia. The Philippines, Vietnam, Dem. Kampuchea and Laos had unsatisfactory growth rates and, consequently, unsustained nutritional gains from the 1970s through the 1980s. Economic factors exerted a big impact on the Philippine nutrition situation, particularly on the dietary status of the households and the nutritional status of children. As a result of the economic dislocation occurring in the country, the nutritional gains of 1978-82 were not maintained in succeeding years. Unlike the case of Thailand, it has been estimated that the solution to nutritional problems in the Philippines is far from being achieved in the immediate future (Villavieja et al. 1989). On the other hand, the nutrition improvements in Thailand have been as remarkable as the economic growth over the last decade. Long-term investments in health, nutrition and other social services in Thailand (as well as in Indonesia) have paid off according to the assessment by the United Nations (1990). It appears, therefore, that the nutrition situation in developing countries is highly dependent on the economic situation, globally and nationally (Cornia et al. 1987), as well as on investment in social services. Adjustment policies should, therefore, consider their implications on distribution and poverty in order that they could positively contribute to the improvement of the nutrition of the people.