The socioeconomic geography of organic agriculture in the United States

To better understand the spatial pattern of organic agriculture in the United States, this research investigates multiple measures of organic farming and examines its environmental and socioeconomic correlates at the meso-level between 2007 and 2012. Drawing data from the Census of Agriculture, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agroecology and sustainable food systems 2017-11, Vol.41 (9-10), p.1162-1184
Main Authors: Kuo, Hui-Ju, Peters, David J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Agriculture
Agroecology
County
Embedded systems
environmental and socioeconomic correlates
Farming
Food
Geography
Lakes
Landscape
Mathematical analysis
Mountains
organic agriculture
Organic farming
Socioeconomics
spatial analysis
Sustainable agriculture
United States
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Summary:To better understand the spatial pattern of organic agriculture in the United States, this research investigates multiple measures of organic farming and examines its environmental and socioeconomic correlates at the meso-level between 2007 and 2012. Drawing data from the Census of Agriculture, the organic index indicates that organic farming is primarily located in New England, along the Pacific Coast, the Northern Great Lakes, and the Western Mountains. Although neighborhood effects did play an important role in organic conversion, a small number of organic intensive counties are expanding in areas that are dominated by conventional agriculture. The regional differences of organic agriculture are associated with ecological factors such as climate and topography. Organic intensive areas tend to have more diverse farm operations, with more women operators and direct sales to people and the community. However, the results show mixed support linking organic production with better socioeconomic settings. Generally, the agroecology approach, which views agriculture and the food systems as being embedded in landscapes and a broader socio-institutional system, helps interpret the regional variation of organic agriculture. To capture organic heterogeneity, this study suggests that more analytical attention be paid to local socioeconomic contexts and the corresponding community-embedded relations.
ISSN:2168-3565
2168-3573
DOI:10.1080/21683565.2017.1359808