Von Thunen's Regional Land Use Model (1826)

What?

Why?

The role of farmer is to maximize his profit which is simply the market price minus the transport and production costs.

The most productive activities (gardening or milk production) or activities having high transport costs (firewood) locate nearby the market.

Intensive Agriculture System of cultivation using large amounts of labor and capital relative to land area-includes use of fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides

Intensive Agriculture Optimal use of these materials and machines produces significantly greater crop yields per unit of land than extensive agriculture, which uses little capital or labor. As a result, a farm using intensive agriculture will require less land than an extensive agriculture farm to produce a similar profit.

Extensive Agriculture Extensive agriculture produces a lower yield per unit of land, and its use commercially requires large quantities of land in order to be profitable.

Extensive Agriculture This demand for land means that extensive agriculture must be carried on where land values are low in relation to labor and capital, which in turn means that extensive agriculture is practiced where population densities are low and thus usually at some distance from primary markets.

How has agriculture changed from 1826 when this model was created?

Practice FRQ Identify the type of land use that each model addresses (von Thunen and Burgess). Identify two assumptions that are shared by both models. For each of these models, explain how relative location affects land-use patterns. Identify two factors that explain why land-use patterns today differ from 1826 when this was created