| Rapid population growth and increasing economic diversity are creating a radically different western landscape: the New West. This research examines the impacts of population growth and development on farming and ranching in the Mountain West during the 1990s. Using aggregate county-level data from the Census of Agriculture and survey data from farmers and ranchers in four Utah and Colorado counties, I compare operation expansion, off-farm income, exit and entry from agriculture, and other indicators of farm structure by metro proximity and population growth. Population growth during the 1990s affected farm structure in the Mountain West, but not in patterns that are consistent with the literature. Metro proximity did not have as strong an impact on agricultural restructuring as population growth. Many operators perceiving population growth in their community reported high likelihood of adopting expansive and extensive survival strategies rather than more contractive and intensifying survival strategies that were expected. |
