Demand is growing for a statistically based, nationally consistent definition of frontier territory, one that is adjustable within a reasonable range and applicable in different research and policy contexts. The need arises from Congressional mandates affecting rural health programs and from...

A theoretical model of farmland valuation is developed to explicitly account for three effects of urban sprawl: conversion of farmland to urban uses, effect on agricultural returns, and speculative effect as represented by farmland conversion risk. This model is estimated using county-level data...