The breakdown in rural communities—Can we stop it?

Urban and suburban growth in the United States has had a significant impact upon land use, real estate speculation, property taxation and the agricultural sector of the country. Highly productive agricultural lands are being converted to non-agricultural uses; the costs of providing public services are increasing; large quantities of potentially productive farmland are lying idle between rural subdivisions; and the sale of land in remote rural areas of the country for ‘investment’ and second home purposes creates stress in rural communities, undermines the economic viability of agriculture and limits the amount of productive farmland available for food production. This study provides a planning strategy to regulate and monitor this rural-to-urban conversion process.