Geography project (1) - Reasons for land constraint

With a grant from USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, we studied 15 agriculturally significant metro-area counties (in 14 states).Not surprisingly, the main constraint on viability identified by our research was a lack of land that established and successor farmers could afford to buy. The main preservation tools we found—restrictive agricultural zoning and purchase of development rights—showed mixed results for the affordability and quantity of protected land. Positive factors included: the willingness of new agland owners with resources from off-farm careers to experiment with commercial farming, sizable areas of farmable land in some counties that were unsuited for development, and two counties with large sectors of high-valued ag products. Also identified were transitional types of farm enterprises that allow operators to remain financially viable as they wait either to be bought out by developers or to lose their leases when the land is ready for the bulldozer