Change in Davidson Agricultural Land Use 1938-2005
The above video shows a progression of images
of Davidson with agricultural land from 1938 to 2005
Scope of the Project
The scope of this project will be to explore attitudes of farmers and consumers in northern Mecklenburg County (Huntersville, Davidson, Cornelius) and Cabarrus County on land-use changes, specifically the loss of agricultural land. GIS technology and records will be used to understand the overall extent of land lost. Surveys and interviews with local farmers/residents will provide information that can be quantified and analyzed to further understand current stances.
Our Objectives
- To investigate land use change in North Mecklenburg and Cabarrus county from the 1930s to present, focusing specifically on agricultural land lost to urbanization.
- To conduct an assessment of how farmers in the area have been affected by urbanization through survey questions addressing land use change, economic implications, and general feelings about urbanization.
- To understand customer’s attitude toward urbanization, local food, and farmer market use.
Expected Trends
In
pursuing these objectives, we expect to observe the following trends. The large
increase in population that has occurred in and around the Charlotte
metropolitan area will have resulted in considerable and significant land loss
to urbanization. We then expect to observe associated decreases in agricultural
land and increases in urban land use. However, we anticipate that farmers will
have been both negatively and positively impacted by urbanization. For example,
increased urbanization has likely decreased the quality of the water and other
essential resources to farming used which then negatively impacts the quality
of the land and the crops it produces. On the other hand, with more people near
the vicinity of their farm farmers likely have experienced an increased
consumer base and increased profits. Overall, we expect that the cons will
outweigh the pros and that the farmers’ attitudes toward land use change are
expected to be generally against urbanization.
