ABSTRACT
The importance of transport costs in determining geographical variations in the type of farming is widely acknowledged, while changes in transport costs over time have also had a profound impact upon agriculture. In the economic model put forward in 1826 J. H. von Thünen argued that the cost of transporting agricultural produce to market was the major determinant both of the intensity with which a crop was grown, and the combination of crops that a farmer would grow. 1 Von Thünen wrote at a time when industrialization had relatively little impact upon European agriculture, and his model helps to explain some of the features of the agricultural geography of pre-industrial Europe. He did not consider the dynamic aspects of his model – the extent to which changes in transport costs affect intensity and land use patterns – but later writers have done. Nor could he foresee the very important subsequent changes that there would be in transport: not only did real costs fall, but it became possible to move perishable commodities much greater distances. In this chapter von Thünen’s model is briefly outlined; its usefulness in interpreting pre-industrial agriculture is discussed; and then the long term fall in transport costs after von Thünen’s time is described, and the consequences for agriculture are assessed.
