The future of agriculture in the shrinking suburbs: The impact of real estate income and housing costs

Hironori Yagi and Guy Garrod

Land Use Policy, 2018, vol. 76, issue C, 812-822

Abstract: This paper offers solutions to some of the challenges around maintaining productive agricultural land close to cities in countries facing a decline in urban populations. In such circumstances, some farmers have been observed to convert their land into real estate and leave farming before land prices decline, therefore decreasing the area of agricultural land close to large cities. In contrast, many suburban farmers in developed countries remain in farming even when land prices decline and suburbs shrink. We argue that such behaviour can be explained by a desire to remain in farming, even at the expense of profits. In such cases, agricultural income may be supplemented by rental income or by selling land. This paper demonstrates that, when land prices are high, a preferential taxation system may help farmers with real estate income to retain more of their land.

Keywords: Asset taxation; Farmland conservation; Household income; Suburb (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:76:y:2018:i:c:p:812-822

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.03.013

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