The Sensitivity of Dairying to Urbanization: A Study of Northeastern Illinois

Dairying is especially sensitive to nearby urbanization, more so than many other types of agriculture. One reason for this is that dairy farming requires a relatively high investment in immobile capital, which farmers may not be willing to make if they anticipate selling their land to speculators or developers. Township-level data on the decline of dairying between 1964 and 1974 are presented for northeastern Illinois, as are estimates of the annualized fixed costs of dairying.