Urban Sprawl: The Rise of Suburbanization and Food Security By Mia Veal
Abstract The importance of food and how it is produced is often forgotten if one is not involved in its production. Farmland is at the center of our food production and the rapid expansion of suburbs in the United States has created a fragmentation in our agricultural lands. Urban sprawl has been attributed to a rising concern in food security in the U.S. by causing annual loss of farmland and changes in farming practices. Additionally, the rise of suburbanization has created a problem for cities' food access and has been correlated to the creation of food deserts. It is vital for the U.S. to look into conserving agricultural land and to give every American access to food. Background Human development has led to urbanization of our surrounding environments. Since the 1920s the United States has seen sprawling underdeveloped areas, with the biggest upticks being in the postwar era and the mid 1990s. This is known as “urban sprawl” Merriam Webster Dictionary defines it as “the rapid expansion of the geographic extent of cities and towns, often characterized by low-density residential housing, single-use zoning, and increased reliance on the private automobile for transportation.” As the creation of suburbs keeps continuing there are direct effects on the environment but most importantly agriculture. Urban sprawl is strongly correlated to creating a problem for food security by causing a fragmentation in agricultural land and food deserts in metropolitan cities. Food security in the U.S. is split into two categories by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA): food security and food insecurity. Food security is when people do not indicate any food-access problems or limitations. Food insecurity is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of uncertain access to adequate food. This affects 10.5% of people in the US and is rapidly increasing. Although suburbanization is not immediately affecting our food supply yet, the average annual loss of productive farmland in the United States is at one million acres. This leads to farmland fragmentation which breaks up agricultural land when non-farming development begins in an area. This can cause a change in farming practices and increase in land prices. Challenges The Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 was passed to protect America’s family farm system and saw agricultural industries as an important aspect of U.S. industry. When urbanization occurs there is a price increase in land and farmers may have to sell their land which in turn creates more non-agricultural land developments.
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