Suburbanization Continues Apace In Florida

There is no end in sight to the steady onslaught of suburbanization in the Sunshine State. Spreading suburbs are expected to gobble up an additional 3-million acres of land by 2020, a University of Florida expert predicts.

Roughly one-third of the losses are projected to take place in Florida’s most populated counties, where fast-growing cities are spilling over into some of the state’s most productive agricultural land.

For the past two decades, John Reynolds, a professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has conducted an annual survey of agricultural land values across the state. He’s discovered that the hottest agricultural properties have always been the “transition” lands – agricultural parcels that have caught the eye of developers seeking locations for new neighborhoods or shopping centers.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 19, 2004 08:11 AM | TrackBack