Drivers of peri-urban farmers' land-use decisions: an analysis of factors and characteristics. Issue 3 (4th May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wadduwage, Suranga
• Is Part Of: Journal of land use science. Volume 16:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 273
• Page End: 290
• Publication Date: 2021-05-04
• Subjects: Peri-urban farmers -- land-use decisions -- factor reduction -- drivers of change; Land use -- Periodicals; 333.7313
• DOI: 10.1080/1747423X.2021.1922525
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1747-423X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Loss of agricultural land due to urban sprawl has negative impacts on community lifestyles and green landscapes in peri-urban areas. However, researchers rarely investigate the complex decisions made by landowners and land managers about changes in farmland at the fringes of cities. A postal questionnaire was sent to 1, 600 farmland owners and managers on the fringes of Adelaide, South Australia, to elicit information on internal and external factors driving their land-use decisions. Descriptive statistics were developed for farmers' demographics, farming life, industry and motivations in managing land while investigating 28 primary factors representing the socio-economic, environmental and institutional land governance influences on land-use decisions. Results demonstrate the advantage of deriving latent factors to identify these land-use transformations, as they identify a different set of factors with higher importance than the farmers' recommendations alone. These findings can improve the knowledge of farmers' land-use decision-making behaviour to model complex land-use transitions on city fringes.