Agricultural Adaptation at the Rural-Urban Interface

Agricultural Adaptation at the Rural-Urban Interface:
Can Communities Make a Difference?

Download a Brochure (*pdf format)

The following web page describes the project, project status and funding for this effort.  We also provide papers and presentations of our work.

About the Project

The central goal of this research is to identify how and under what conditions local communities are able to influence the trajectory of agricultural change and adaptation at the rural-urban interface. The primary objectives of the research are to 1) characterize the diverse trajectories of agricultural change in U.S. rural-urban interface counties; 2) collect and analyze detailed information in select communities about local responses to urbanization pressures and assess farmer adaptive strategies in relation to local policy and social conditions; and 3) test a multivariate model of county-level aggregate patterns of agricultural change based on information about social, demographic, economic, policy, and ecological conditions in a national sample of agriculturally-important rural-urban interface counties. A multi-method research design with three distinct phases is described below.  The findings of this research will inform policy and development efforts aimed at improving agricultural opportunity and rural prosperity at the rural-urban interface.

Phase 1: The initial phase of the project will be to construct and analyze a dataset containing agricultural, population, land-use, and other types of secondary data for all U.S. counties in the lower 48 states with significant agricultural sectors.  Using this information, we constructed a typology of agriculturally important counties at the rural-urban interface.

Phase 2:  Building on Phase 1, Phase 2 studies in more depth communities that represent the different types identified in Phase 1.  We are conducting several case studies.  There are three components to each of the case studies: 1) Face-to-face interviews with local farmers focusing on the challenges, opportunities, and influences on their farming decisions; 2) Face-to-face interviews with community leaders, county agricultural professionals, and local, nonfarm residents to better understand some of the demographic, social, community and ecological factors influencing local farm decision-making; and 3) A survey of farm and nonfarm landowners in the unincorporated areas of each study county.

Phase 3:  Drawing on findings from the Phase 2 case studies, a key informant mail survey will be developed and administered in each of the agriculturally-important, rural-urban interface counties in the US (approximately 700). The survey will be designed to gather consistent information regarding the character of agricultural adaptation in the community as well as direct measurement of aspects of each of the five sets of factors anticipated to influence agricultural adaptation.  These five factors include farmer and household characteristics, geographic and spatial factors, macroeconomic/structural factors, and our two influences of primary interest - social capital and infrastructure and land-use and development policy.

Status of Project

Our research team is currently compiling the landowner survey from Phase 2.  In addition, we are conducting the county-level key informant survey.

Papers

Clark, Jill K.  2008.  "The Relational Geography in Newly Restructured, Consumptive Spaces: Developing a Model for Agricultural Geography of US Peri-Urban Areas."  Paper presented at the 2008 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, April 15-19, Boston.
               Download a *.pdf version of this paper

Clark, Jill K., Doug Jackson-Smith, Jeff S. Sharp, and Darla K. Munroe. 2007. “The Geography of US Peri-Urban Agricultural Adaptation.” Paper presented at the TransAtlantic Land Use Conference, September 24-26, Washington, DC.
               Download a *.pdf version of this paper

Clark, Jill K., Shoshanah Inwood, Jeff S. Sharp and Douglas Jackson-Smith. 2007. “Community-level Influences on Agricultural Trajectories: Seven Cases Across Exurban U.S.” Paper presented at the Sixth Quadrennial Conference of British, Canadian, and American Rural Geographers, July 15-20, Spokane, WA. 
               Download a *.pdf version of this paper

Presentations (in chronological order - latest listed first)

"The Future of Agriculture and Land Use at the Rural-Urban Interface" Douglas Jackson-Smith, Jeff S. Sharp, Jill K. Clark, Shoshanah Inwood, presentation at the 2008 Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting, Manchester, NH, July 28 - August 1, 2008.
                Download Adobe Acrobat Presentation here

"The Relational Geography in Newly Restructured, Consumptive Spaces: Developing a Model for Agricultural Geography of US Peri-Urban Areas" Jill K. Clark, presentation at the 2008 American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston, April 15-19 2008.
                Download Adobe Acrobat Presentation here - Conference Paper (*.pdf)

"The Geography of US Peri-Urban Agricultural Adaptation"  Jill K. Clark, Doug Jackson Smith, Jeff S. Sharp and Darla K. Munroe, presentation at the Transatlantic Land Use Conference, Washington, DC, September 24-26, 2007.
                Download PowerPoint Presentation here - View Presentation On-line here
                                                      Conference Paper (*.pdf)

"The Impact of Local Land Use Policy and Social Infrastructure on Agricultural Transitions in Urbanizing Areas" Doug Jackson Smith & Lori Porreca-Utah State University, and Shoshanah Inwood, Jeff Sharp, & Jill Clark-Ohio State University, presentation at the 2007 Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting, Santa Clara, CA, August 2-5, 2007.
                 Download PowerPoint Presentation here - View Presentation On-line here

"Sustaining the Family Farm at the Rural Urban Interface: Comparing the Reproduction Processes of Commodity and Alternative Food & Ag. Enterprises" Shoshanah Inwood, Jeff Sharp, Doug Jackson Smith, presentation at the 2007 Rural Sociological Society Annual Meeting, Santa Clara, CA, August 2-5, 2007.
                 Download PowerPoint Presentation here - View Presentation On-line here

"Understanding the Impacts of Urbanization on Agriculture: A Conceptual Model" Doug Jackson Smith & Lori Porreca-Utah State University, and Shoshanah Inwood, Jeff Sharp, & Jill Clark-Ohio State University, presentation at Conference on Emerging Issues along Urban-Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society, Atlanta, GA, April, 12 2007.
                 Download PowerPoint Presentation here - View Presentation On-line here

“Community Influence on Farm Adaptation at the RUI: Urban Oriented Agriculture at the RUI,” Shoshanah Inwood, Jeff Sharp, & Jill Clark-Ohio State University, and Doug Jackson Smith & Lori Porreca-Utah State University, presentation at Conference on Emerging Issues along Urban-Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society, Atlanta, GA, April, 12 2007.
                 Download PowerPoint Presentation here - View Presentation On-line here

"Agricultural Change at the Rural-Urban Interface:  Models and Findings " Jeff Sharp, Shoshanah Inwood and Jill Clark, Prepared for the OSU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, Columbus, Ohio October 2006.

"Farm Adaptation at the Rural-Urban Interface" Shoshanah Inwood and Jeff Sharp, Poster prepared for the Rural Sociological Society, Louisville, Kentucky, August 2006.

“Farming in the Urban Shadow: Can Communities Make a Difference?” Douglas Jackson-Smith, Invited faculty seminar presentation, Department of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, March 8, 2006.
                 Download PowerPoint Presentation here - View Presentation On-line here

"Trajectory of Agricultural Change in Rural-urban Interface Counties, 1987 to 2002" Jeff S. Sharp, Jill Clark, Shoshanah Inwood, and Doug Jackson-Smith, Prepared for Rural Sociological Society, Tampa, Florida, August 2005.

“American Idle: The Effects of Urbanization on Farmland and Farm Structure in the United States,” Eric Jensen and Douglas Jackson-Smith, presentation at Conference on Emerging Issues along Urban-Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society, Atlanta, GA, March 13-15, 2005.
                 Download PowerPoint Presentation here - View Presentation On-line here

Funding

Funding is provided by the USDA National Research Initiative.

Contact Information