Overview
Urban America continues to grow toward, around, and in formerly agricultural areas, inevitably impacting the existing social and physical environment. This paper contributes to the growing literature documenting changes in U.S. agricultural production as it is affected by urbanization. Three independent variables, structure of U.S. agricultural production (i.e., agristructure), metropolitan proximity, and production regions are used to address crop commodity sales revenues in 1992 and 1997. Four specific questions are addressed in this research:
- What was the structure of U.S. agricultural production in 1992 and had this structure changed by 1997?
- What was the relationship between metropolitan proximity and U.S. agristructure and its changes from 1992 to 1997 at the county level?
- What was the relationship between U.S. production regions and change in U.S. agristructure from 1992 to 1997? and
- Are agristructure, metropolitan proximity, and production regions associated with commodity production and have these relationships changed during the 1990s?
Our findings indicate that the county-level structure of U.S. agriculture changed from 1992 to 1997. Furthermore, much of the nation's crop-based agriculture varies regionally and does not exist in rural areas as it once did, but is contiguous to large urbanized areas. These areas accommodate intense, high yield production agricultural operations (e.g. nursery/greenhouse and fruit/vegetable crops) with large sales revenues. This seemingly "paradoxical" relationship has consequences for agricultural policy, rural community development, municipal infrastructure, and the lifestyles of farmers and urban residents.
