Topic: The Von Thunen
Model
Aim: How can we
apply the Von Thunen
Model to agricultural
activities and regions?
Do Now: Review of
types of commercial
farming
Von Thunen Model:
1. Proposed in 1826 by German
farmer Johann Heinrich von
Thunen – farmer and
economist
2. Helps explain the importance
of proximity to market in the
choice of crops and animals on
commercial farms
3. Commercial farmers compare
cost of land to cost of
transporting products to market
4. As one gets closer to the city,
the price of land increases, and
the type of crop produced
changes
Von Thunen Model
• Von Thunen Model
– What farmers produce
varies by distance from
the town, with livestock
raising farthest from
town.
– Cost of transportation
governs use of land.
– First effort to analyze the
spatial character of
economic activity.
Ring 1:
Dairying and intensive
farming occur
• Ring 1: Dairying and
intensive farming
occur in the ring
closest to the city.
Since vegetables, fruit,
milk and other dairy
products must get to
market quickly, they
would be produced
close to the city (no
refrigerated oxcarts in
1830s!)
• Ring 2: Timber and
firewood would be
produced for fuel and
building materials.
Ring 1:
Before industrialization
Dairying and intensive
(and coal power), wood
farming occur
was a very important fuel
for heating and cooking.
Wood is very heavy and
difficult to transport so
it’s located as close to city
as possible.
Ring 1:
Dairying and intensive
farming occur
• Ring 3: Extensive
field crops such as
grains for bread occur
in this ring. Since
grains last longer than
dairy products and are
much lighter than fuel
(reduces
transportation costs)
they can be located
further from the city.
• Ring 4: Livestock
ranching is located in the
final ring surrounding the
central city. Animals can
be raised far from the city
because they are selftransporting. Animals can
walk to the central city for
sale or for butchering.
• Beyond the fourth ring lies
wilderness.
Von Thunen recognized that his model would be modified by
site factors, such as a river in this sketch, which changes the
accessibility of different land parcels to the market center.
Assumptions/Critiques of Theory
• City is located centrally within an “isolated state”
which is self-sufficient and has no external influences
• Isolated state is surrounded by wilderness
• Land is completely flat and no rivers/mountains
interrupt the terrain
• Soil quality and climate are consistent
• Farmers transport their own goods to market via
oxcart, across land, directly to central city (therefore
no roads)
• Farmers act to maximize profits
Application of Von Thunen Model:
• Geographer Lee Liu studied the spatial pattern of
agriculture production in China.
Found:
- farmers living in a village farm both lands close to the
village and far away intensively
- methods varied spatially – resulting in land
improvement (by adding organic material) close to
village and land degradation (lots of pesticides and
fewer conservation tactics) farther from village.