Agricultural Location and Crop Choices in China: A Revisitation on Von Thünen Model

Growing populations and rapid urbanization have put tremendous pressure on the food supply. The rural hinterland around cities is an important source of the urban food supply chain. Facing the constraints of China’s land stock, reasonable use of land space and optimization of agricultural crop struc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land (Basel) 2022-10, Vol.11 (11), p.1885
Main Authors: Han, Hongyun, Yuan, Zhen, Zou, Kai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural industry
agricultural location
Agricultural policy
Agricultural production
Agricultural products
Agriculture
Cities
Commercial farms
Costs
crop choices
Crops
Developing countries
Economic rent
Food
Food chains
Food supply
Forecasts and trends
Geography
Land use
LDCs
Management
one village, one product
Optimization
OVOP
Principles
Production management
Specialization
Supply chains
Urbanization
Von Thünen Model
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Summary:Growing populations and rapid urbanization have put tremendous pressure on the food supply. The rural hinterland around cities is an important source of the urban food supply chain. Facing the constraints of China’s land stock, reasonable use of land space and optimization of agricultural crop structure is crucial to meet the food demand. Von Thünen Model, which is fronted by a 19th-century German economist, outlines a rural landscape of commercial farmers growing agricultural products for local markets while proposing basic patterns and principles of land use in agriculture. Using data from China’s OVOP (“One village, One product”), this paper analyzes the agricultural location and crop choices around two levels of cities (provincial capital cities, and county-level cities) by using Thünen’s theory. The results showed that crop density did decrease as the distance to urban increased. Crop rings are present in the vicinity of both metropolitan and county-level cities, distributed according to crop intensity. Evidence from China suggests that agricultural location and crop selection still follow the basic principles of the Thünen model. Planners and policymakers should refocus on the Von Thünen model to utilize land space and optimize agricultural production scientifically and efficiently.
ISSN:2073-445X
2073-445X
DOI:10.3390/land11111885