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Difficulty: HardAgricultural Systems and Land Use Practices

In spatial agricultural location theory, an isolated central market is surrounded by a uniform plain. If freight rate is directly proportional to product weight and perishability, which of the following best explains why intensive market gardening occupies the innermost ring closest to the market city while extensive livestock ranching operates in the outermost ring?

  1. Perishable produce yields higher economic rent per unit area, enabling farmers to outbid extensive land uses for high-value land near the market.Answer
  2. B
    Cheaper land values near the urban boundary permit the large-scale spatial allocation required for labor-intensive crop cultivation.
  3. C
    Specific microclimatic conditions and dry soil profiles suitable for horticulture occur exclusively in urban fringe areas.
  4. D
    Nucleated rural settlement patterns near the market physically restrict livestock movement and grazing networks.

Answer

Perishable produce yields higher economic rent per unit area, enabling farmers to outbid extensive land uses for high-value land near the market.
In agricultural location theory, land close to the market commands the highest economic rent. Intensive horticulture and dairying produce high value per unit area but suffer high transport costs and rapid spoilage. Consequently, growers of these products have a steep bid-rent curve and can outbid extensive land uses (like grain production or livestock ranching) for the most accessible, high-rent land adjacent to the central market.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the spatial economics of Von Thünen's agricultural land use model.
Economic rent (Locational Rent) decreases with increasing distance from the central market due to rising transportation costs.
Economic rent is defined as revenue minus production costs and transportation costs.
2
Compare the transport and yield characteristics of intensive horticulture versus extensive ranching.
Horticultural products have high yield per hectare, high perishability, and high transport costs per unit of land, producing a steep bid-rent gradient.
Perishable goods must reach the market quickly, making proximity to the central market critical to profitability.
3
Determine why land allocation occurs in concentric rings.
Activities with the steepest bid-rent curves outbid other activities for land closest to the market, establishing intensive gardening in the innermost zone.
Ranching produces low revenue per unit area and lower transport cost per hectare, meaning it can only operate profitably where land rent is lowest (farther from the city).

Key Concept

Von Thünen's Model of Agricultural Land Use and Economic Bid-Rent Theory
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Topics

Agricultural Systems and Land Use Practices

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