Agricultural Social Infrastructure: People, Policy, and Community Development

An assumption exists in the public discourse regarding the future of agriculture at the Rural Urban Interface (RUI) that decline is all but inevitable. Yet, agriculture at the RUI continues to persist and in some cases thrive. Policy relating to land use and economic development has been the primary source of intervention in attempts to protect and bolster RUI agriculture. This research explores the hypothesis that communities with stronger network relationships, a concept I call agricultural social infrastructure (ASI), will be more likely to have land use and economic development policies in place and in such perform better in relation to maintaining or growing agriculture in there respective counties than counties without strong ASI and policy. Additionally, this work looks to incorporate a holistic model of county structural impact on agricultural outcomes. The primary addition to this model is the inclusion the national commodity crop productivity index (NCCPI) and rating of prime farmland. Each of these measures serves to capture the inherent production capacity of agricultural lands.;This research is important in that it looks to fill two fundamental gaps in the literature relating to RUI agriculture. First, can we identify a path for the creation and implementation of public policy relating to the social infrastructure in a community? Second, are their particular types of agricultural lands in production in the RUI that lead to better overall success relative to income and the maintenance of farmland production? To test these hypotheses, a number of methods were used. Key informants in agriculturally important RUI counties were administered a survey to determine the extent of agricultural programming and policy in place in the county as well as to establish the strength of network relationships associated with ASI. Additionally, data was drawn from the USDA census of agriculture for 2002-2012 as well as from the NRCS- National Resources Inventory 2007 to establish trends in production, land use, and economic returns and to establish a soil profile for the counties.;In all, there is little support for the hypothesis that social infrastructure and agricultural policy play an important role in shaping county level agricultural outcomes at the RUI. Conversely, there is substantial support for the impact of soil quality on county level agricultural outcomes, as well as support for the hypothesis that particular production typologies will be associated with inherent soil characteristics. This research both adds to a body of literature regarding the nature of decision making and farm persistence at the RUI and opens the door for additional inquiry in the underdeveloped area of soil quality &...