Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

RAISING RED HERRING ON THE FARM

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Jim Bacon’s post on the “family farm” made a number of good points. The responses raise a lot more good observations, especially the spacial relationship between raising and consuming food.

In the discussion of extensive (nonurban) land uses it is important to keep in mind that it is economically, socially and physically important that the Urbanside be compact without regard to what nonurban land uses are found in the Countryside.

The Urbanside is most efficient and most effectively serves the market for functional urban land uses if it occupies about 5 percent of the land area in the United States. (The number varies from region to region and from continent to continent.) Scatteration of urban land uses beyond that amount of urban land diminishes the functionality of human settlement patterns in the Urbanside.

Therefore, devoting 95 percent of the land area to nonurban (aka, Countryside) uses is a good idea without regard to what those uses are. We will be documenting this in The Shape Warrenton-Fauquier’s Future.

The support (or subsidies) for family farms, multifamily farms, corporate farms owned by a family or an enterprise, family tree farms or cyanide heap-leach gold mining, etc., etc., depend on the utility/impact of the product (raising healthy, tastier vegetables, sugar beets, tobacco or whatever) and how it is done (e.g. spreading chicken manure in DelMarVa).

EMR

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Comments

  1. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Horse manure. There is no fixed relationship between the land area of the U.S. and the extent of urban population.

  2. subpatre Avatar
    subpatre

    The idea that people must be forced, regardless of their wishes, into ‘efficiency’ is frightening. More ominous is the unsupported claim that this is a “good idea without regard to what those uses are”. It all sounds vaguely like caging people into a vast zoo for their own good.

    The 95:5 ratio (or similar imbalance) has only been true since WWII. A solid, well-grounded argument can be made that the current urban exodus is a return to the more natural state of affairs; the settlement pattern of not just centuries, but millenia.

    Oddly enough, the idea of decentralization, perhaps better termed ‘de-urbanization’, has been official defense policy since the same time. The tag-team of industrial-age market economics, poor transportation, inferior communications, and sheer laziness prevented any action. With the advent of 2001, the GWOT, and the latest recommendations of basing; perhaps something will now happen.

  3. Doug W. Avatar
    Doug W.

    “Scatteration,” “urbanside,” “the functionality of human settlement patterns,” “utility/impact”.

    I smell hooey, and it’s not being spread by tractors.

  4. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “The idea that people must be forced, regardless of their wishes, into ‘efficiency’ is frightening.”

    Subpatre, I like the way you think: this kind of idea is scary. Whats worse is that some people apparently believe this stuff.

  5. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Helpful Input

    It is always helpful to have citizens step out of their area of expertise and offer their unvarnished views in the area of community, subregional, regional and continent-wide settlement patterns:

    These comments serve two useful purposes:

    1. They demonstrate the depth and sweep of Geographic Illiteracy.

    Especially striking is the failure to understand the vast difference in scale between “Manhattan”/“crowding” on the one hand and one, two, ten and 50 acre urban lots on the other. Those afflicted by Geographic Illiteracy seem unable to grasp the middle ground of functional settlement patterns where the vast majority (over 80 percent based on current market research and the historical pattern over the past 60 years) would prefer to live work and play if they had the opportunity.

    2. These comments also illustrate the huge challenge faced by PROPERTY DYNAMICS.

    It is unfortunate that the views are often couched in pejorative terms and purport to defend the “rights” of the downtrodden “forced” to live in places they do not want to be. The market demonstrates this is not the case. In addition, most of those in the tiny minority who have a choice and now choose scatteration would abandon it if they had to pay the full cost of dysfunctional location decisions.

    Our next column will provide insights on the patterns and densities of those who back up their “family values” with real plans and real money.

    In the meantime we will always be happy to review science based data on functional settlement patterns at the Alpha Community, subregional or New Urban Region scale. The core observation in this post was published in 1991 in a best selling book on Edge Cities and has never been challenged by anyone who has taken the time to “do the numbers.”

    EMR

  6. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    I suppose Geographic Illiteracy is not a pejorative term.

    “if they had to pay the full cost of dysfunctional location decisions.” As I see it this translates to “if they were forced to pay the full costs as defined by EMR.

    If 80% of the population would really prefer to live in a certain condition where are the regulations and market forces to support the idea?

    According to your analysis, the lack of such regulations results in people being “forced” to live in larger lots with subsidised services, when they would prefer to live in smaller abodes at higher rents and pay the additional full cost for the mass transit, bicycle paths, public open space, stormwater management, affordable housing, and increased police and social services that such densities require.

    I can’t understand why people aren’t lining up for such a deal.

    The offer to review science based data on alpha communities reminds me of Bernard Shaw sending two tickets to the opening night of his play to Winston Churchill and telling him to bring a friend, if he had one. Churchill responded that he couldn’t make it but he would come to the second night, if there was one.

    Call me illiterate, “Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet” it is probably because someone has been feeding me ideas that are made like the famous chowder, from the shadow of a wooden carving of a codfish.

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