Test transport costs in agricultural location

Test transport costs in agricultural location

Question and evidence

Why might a perishable crop locate nearer a market?

A fictional market is surrounded by identical land. Dairy earns 100 credits per hectare before rent and transport, with transport cost 5 per kilometer. Grain earns 60 with transport cost 1 per kilometer. Distances considered are 0, 5, 10 and 15 kilometers.

This packet uses fictional data to isolate a mechanism. It is not an empirical estimate.

Mechanism and worked example

A simple agricultural location model compares how transport erodes surplus available for land rent. A steep transport-cost line can make a product competitive near the market but not farther away. The model isolates one mechanism; it does not describe an inevitable pattern of actual farms.

At 5 km dairy surplus is 100−25=75 and grain 60−5=55. At 10 km both equal 50. At 15 km dairy is 25 and grain 45. The crossover solves 100−5d=60−d, so d=10.

Complication

The second map adds a refrigerated rail line, unequal soils and a land-tenure boundary. The original concentric-ring assumptions no longer hold; real agriculture also includes subsistence, commercial networks and changing technology.

Your investigation

Plot both surplus lines against distance, label the crossover, and redraw a prediction after adding the rail line without pretending the old assumptions still apply.

Revise your answer to “Why might a perishable crop locate nearer a market?” using both source IDs. Separate the checked calculation from a judgment, and identify evidence that could reverse your judgment.

Vocabulary

Bid rent: The amount a land user can offer for a location under stated revenues and costs.

Assumption: A condition accepted for a model or argument; it needs justification before applying the result elsewhere.

Independent extension

Independently extend the investigation “Test transport costs in agricultural location” with a documented real dataset or scholarly source. Preserve definitions, recreate one calculation or evidence table, compare a rival explanation and report why the teaching example cannot establish the real-world conclusion.

Inspect the worked graph

Lines follow the specified linear teaching equations. Axes start at zero. The table identifies every series without relying on color.

Series	Distance (km)	Surplus (credits/hectare)
Dairy	0	100
Dairy	5	75
Dairy	10	50
Dairy	15	25
Dairy	20	0
Grain	0	60
Grain	5	55
Grain	10	50
Grain	15	45
Grain	20	40