C6-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 12, 2000
Ohio Urbanization Offers
New Agricultural Opportunities
COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio is
becoming more urban, but that
does not necessarily mean the
end of agriculture, said Jeff
Sharp, an Ohio State University
Extension rural sociology spe
cialist.
“It’s a mistake to think that
nonfarm people moving out of
metro areas and into the country
signals the.end of agriculture,”
Sharp said. “Increasingly urban
areas offer a diverse and cre
ative landscape with some excit
ing opportunities for
agriculture. There are some pos
itive adjustment strategies that
some Ohio farm operators are
adopting to tap into the market
potential of being near large
numbers of people.”
With increased development,
the demand for landscaping ma
terials, such as trees, shrubs and
flowers, also increases. Ohio
farmers have responded to this
demand, Sharp said. The
number of Ohio farms with nur
sery and greenhouse sales has
increased 79 percent since 1978,
from 1,572 farms to 2,812 farms.
In 1978, 12 percent of all
farms in the core counties of the
largest metropolitan areas re
ported some nursery and green
house sales. By 1997, 17.8
percent of farms in these areas
reported nursery and green
house sales. In the fringe coun
ties of metropolitan areas, the
percent of farms with nursery
and greenhouse sales has grown
from 1.9 percent to six percent.
Total nursery and greenhouse
sales in five core or fringe metro
We Now Accept Visa
Lancaster Farming
1 E Main St
Ephrata, Pa 17522
717-394-3047
or Lititz
717-626-1164
FAX 717-733-6058
PHONE HOURS
Mon , Tues,
Wed & Fn
Sam to 5 p m
Thurs
7am to 5 p m
OFFICE HOURS
Mon thru Fn.
Bam to 5 p m
The lollowmg categories
are available for your
classified advertising
In Section C Deadline
Thursday morning at 9 ol each week s
publication
1 - Farm Equipment
1b • Speciality Farm Eq
2 - Farm Eq Wanted
The following categories
are available for your
classified advertising
in Section D Deadline
Wednesday afternoon at 5
ot each week s publication
1a Construction Equipment
3- and Unloaders
4- and Supplies
5- Equipment
6- Equipment
7- Equipment
8-
Sa-Exotic Animals
9- & Mules
10- & Goals
11-
12- Breeding
13- Eq & Supplies
14- & Supplies
14a-Rallies
15- S Seed
16-
17-
18- & Vegetables
19-
20- & Garden
21- Ottered
22- Work
23- Wanted
24 Situations Wanted
25-Business Opportunities
26 Household
27 Pets
28 Lost
29 Found
30 Computers
31 Notice
32 Miscellaneous
32a Antiques
33 Recreational Vehicles
34-
35- & Trailers
36 Real Estate
politan counties Lake,
Lorain, Franklin, Lucas and
Clark rank in the top 100
counties nationally.
Increasing populations also
allow more opportunities for
farmers to sell agricultural prod
ucts directly to consumers,
through farm markets, pick
your-own operations and other
similar arrangements, he said.
About nine percent of metro
politan farms in Ohio reported
some type of sales directly to
consumers in 1997, compared to
about six percent of nonmetro
politan farms. Core counties of
the largest metropolitan areas
had the highest proportion of
farms, 11.2 percent, with direct
sales.
While the number of farm op
erations reporting some type of
direct sales grew only 3.8 per
cent between 1992 and 1997,
total sales directly to consumers
grew 14.3 percent, from $24 mil
lion to $2B million, Sharp said.
In metropolitan Ohio, th»
growth was from $l4 million to
$lB million, or 22.2 percent.
Licking, Mahoning, Lorain,
and Portage counties all had
more than $1 million in total
sales directly to consumers in
1997. Licking, Mahoning, and
Lorain rank in the top 100 coun
ties nationally.
While sales directly to con
sumers comprise less than one
percent of the state’s total agri
cultural sales, it appears to be
quite popular in northeastern
Ohio, where more than 10 per
cent of the farms in the region
CLASSIFIED AD ORDER BLANK
r ****' *^AIL
LANCASTER FARMING A
k PO Box 609, Ephrata, PA 17522 i
NOTE: Please do not use this form for
Mail Box Market Ads, see instructions with Mailbox Markets,
Name
Address
City
Zip
Please publish my ad
starting with the
DEADLINES:
SECTION D - WEDNESDAY AT 4:00 P.M. SECTION C • THURSDAY AT 9:00 A.M. OP EACH WEEK’S PUBLICATION
MINIMUM
3 LINES
1 TIME
COST
$5.91
4 Lines 7.88
5 Lines 9.85
6 Lines 11.82
7 Lines 13.79
8 Lines 15.76
9 Lines 17.73
10 Lines 19.70
Add’t Per Line
$1.97 Each
report some direct sales, Sharp
said.
“Some folks engaging in nur
sery and green house sales and
direct sales to consumers may
not come from traditional farm
backgrounds, but they are entre
preneurs who like that kind of
work and are taking advantage
of an opportunity,” he said.
These new urban-oriented
farmers can start out small,
while maintaining an off-farm
job, he said. Then, once they
have developed a market, their
operation could become full
time.
“Urban agriculture is a drop
in the bucket of Ohio agriculture
compared to traditional agricul
tural production,” Sharp said.
“But, it is seeing growth, and
community leaders and develop
ment professionals might want
to pay closer attention to it, be
cause urban-oriented agricul
ture can contribute to an
aesthetically pleasing landscape
and can make a solid contribu
tion to the local economy.”
Ohio has historically been one
of the largest states and is the
seventh most populous state in
the United States, trailing only
California, New York, Texas,
Florida, Pennsylvania, and Illi
nois. The statewide population
density of 244 people per square
mile is the ninth highest in the
nation, behind New Jersey,
Rhode Island, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Maryland, New
York, Delaware, and Pennsylva
nia, all located to the east. And,
Ohio has the fifth largest rural
vfsA
State
Phone (,
.times
issue. Classify under
I enclose
ADS MUST BE RUN 3 TIMES IN A ROW TO RECEIVE ANY PRICE BREAK
IN ORDER TO GET THE CORRECT COST, PLEASE USE ONLY QBE LETTER
PER SPACE WITH A BLANK SPACE BETWEEN EACH WORD
, Master Card
PLEASE WRITE CLEARLY
PAX
717-733*6058
population.
The fastest growing areas of
Ohio since 1980 have been those
outlying or fringe counties of the
state’s three largest metropoli
tan areas Cleveland, Cincin
nati, and Columbus. From 1980
to 1998, these areas have grown
approximately 20 percent, while
the statewide average growth
during this time period has been
only 3.7 percent.
Urbanization does have obvi
ous negative effects on agricul
ture. As more people move into
an area, farmland can be con
verted to nonagricultural pur
poses, and the land can become
fragmented into small plots.
This may hurt the ability of
larger farm operations to effec
tively use the land. Sharp said.
The difficulty of raising live
stock in heavily populated areas
may be one factor in total sales
from livestock and their prod
ucts declining 40 percent in
Ohio, in inflation adjusted dol
lars, from 1978 to 1997, he said.
Livestock sales, adjusted for in
flation, declined 52 percent in
metropolitan Ohio and only 32
percent in nonmetropolitan
areas.
Since 1978, Ohio’s land in
farms has declined 10.7 percent,
with the greatest declines occur
CALL 717-626-1164 TO
ADVERTISE YOUR LINE AD OR
DISPLAY BOX AD IN OUR PAPER
□ Check Enclosed
O Visa (13 or 16 numbers)
□ Mastercard (16 numbers) (Be sure to include all numbers)
□ Discover (16 numbers)
Card#
Exp. Date;
Box Replies: Ads with answers coming to a box number, c/o
Lancaster Farming: $1.50 per ad per week additional.
This newspaper will not be responsible for more than one
incorrect insertion of any advertisement.
ring in the largest metropolitan
areas a 24 percent decline in
core counties of the largest met
ropolitan areas and 15 percent
in the fringe counties.
But despite a smaller average
farm size in metropolitan areas,
the average, self-reported worth
of these farms equals, and in
some cases exceeds, the average
value of nonmetropolitan farms.
It appears some metro farmers
are intensifying their production
and taking advantage of urban
market opportunities to either
sell high value products such
as landscaping products from
nurseries or sell products di
rectly to consumers, Sharp said.
“When more people move to
the country, farmers can choose
to either disinvest in their opera
tions, assuming they will sell to a
developer in the near future, or
see it as a new opportunity to
adjust, be creative, and adapt,”
he said.
A full report by Sharp titled
“Agricultural Change by Metro
politan Character in Ohio: 1978
to 1997” can be found on Ohio
State University’s Swank Pro
gram in Rural Urban Policy
website at http://www
agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/
Faculty/Programs/Swank/index.
html.
& Discover
Signature
wm
kdd’t Line
@ 3.94
OWES 1
RATE
IM|s
15.76
22.08
19.70
27.60
33.12
23.64
38.64
27.58
31.52
44.16
49.68
35.46
39.40
55.20
Add’t Line
@ 5.52