The amenity value of agricultural landscape and rural-urban land allocation

We analyse rural-urban land allocation in the light of the increasing environmental role of agricultural landscapes. The landscape amenity value of farmland varies across crops and as a result affects the optimal crop mix in addition to its effect on rural-urban land allocation. Investigating the effects of population and income growth processes, we find that, contrary to market outcomes, the socially optimal allocation may call for more farmland preservation under both processes. In an empirical application to a region in Israel, we find that the extent of market under-supply of farmland is substantial and that population growth calls for more farmland preservation at the expense of urban land.