AP Syllabus focus:
‘Von Thünen’s model explains rural land use by emphasizing transportation costs and distance from the market.’
Farmers make strategic land-use decisions based on transport costs, market distance, and crop value. Von Thünen’s model illustrates how these forces create patterned land-use rings.
Core Principles of the Von Thünen Model
Developed in the early 19th century, Johann Heinrich von Thünen’s agricultural land-use model seeks to explain why different types of farming appear in concentric rings around a central market city. At its foundation is the idea that transportation costs increase with distance, and farmers must balance these costs with the value of their products. The model assumes an isolated state with uniform soil, climate, and terrain to focus entirely on economic decision-making.
This diagram displays von Thünen’s concentric land-use rings, ranging from intensive horticulture and dairying near the city to ranching at the periphery. It visually demonstrates how distance and transportation costs create spatial patterns in rural land use. The diagram includes more explicit ring labels than required in the AP syllabus but fully supports its central concepts. Source.
The Link Between Transportation Costs and Land Use
Transportation costs refer to the expenses associated with moving agricultural goods from the farm to the market. These include:
Time spent transporting goods
Labor used in loading, hauling, and unloading
Fuel or feed costs for animals or machinery
Spoilage or quality loss during travel
Because transportation becomes more expensive as distance grows, farmers must consider whether a crop or product will still be profitable if grown farther from market. This relationship lies at the heart of the land-use rings.
Transportability and Product Value
Different agricultural products vary in their level of transportability, meaning how easily and cheaply they can be moved. Highly perishable or bulky goods have higher transportation costs per unit and therefore require location closer to the market. Low-value or nonperishable goods can be grown much farther away because the cost of transport occupies a smaller share of profit.
Land-Use Rings in the Von Thünen Model
The model predicts four major rings around the central market, each shaped by product characteristics and the overarching cost-distance relationship.
Ring 1: Intensive, Perishable Products
The innermost ring contains high-value, perishable goods, such as dairy, fresh vegetables, and other products that spoil quickly. These items demand fast delivery to maintain quality and fetch high market prices. Transport costs make long-distance production unprofitable.
Perishability: The degree to which a product spoils or loses quality over time, influencing how far it can be transported economically.
Because these goods must be supplied frequently, farmers near the market can afford to pay higher land rents, a logical outcome of short transport distances.
Ring 2: Forest Products for Fuel and Construction
Historically, the second ring featured wood and timber, used for heating, cooking, and building. Wood is bulky and heavy, creating high transportation costs. Proximity to the market minimized the burden of hauling logs, especially before industrial technology improved transport efficiency.
Ring 3: Extensive Field Crops
Further out lies a ring of grains and field crops requiring large tracts of land but producing goods that are less perishable and lighter to transport. Wheat, rye, and barley became ideal for this zone because:
They store well
They travel without spoiling
They command moderate but stable market prices
This stage marks a shift toward more extensive agriculture, in which large land areas help offset lower profit margins.
Ring 4: Ranching and Livestock
The outermost ring supports grazing and livestock ranching, an extensive system requiring large, inexpensive land. Animals can walk themselves to market, reducing transportation costs and making distance less restrictive. Because land is cheapest at the periphery, ranching finds its economic niche farthest from the central city.
The Role of Distance in Shaping Profitability
Distance to market determines whether a product remains profitable after transportation expenses are deducted from revenue. This logic is central to farmers’ spatial decisions.
= Money earned from selling agricultural goods
= Expenses from moving goods to market
This economic relationship explains why different agricultural activities cluster at different distances. When transportation costs exceed potential revenue, an activity becomes unviable at that location.
A key insight from the model is that land value decreases with distance from the market, because farmers are willing to pay more for land that reduces transportation burdens. High-value goods justify higher rents near the market, while low-value goods require cheaper land farther away.
This schematic links distance, land rent, and agricultural land-use rings, visualizing how rent curves for different crops shape their spatial arrangement. The graph on the left highlights differences in profitability with distance, while the rings on the right represent resulting land-use zones. The additional subdivisions exceed AP syllabus detail but reinforce the model’s economic logic. Source.
Spatial Logic and Predictive Value
Though based on simplified assumptions, the model remains influential because it demonstrates how economic geography shapes agricultural landscapes. The concentric rings serve as an idealized framework to understand how farmers weigh:
Production costs
Transportation costs
Market demand
Land values
Real-world factors—climate, physical geography, technology, and policy—modify these patterns, but the core principle stands: distance from market and transportation cost fundamentally structure rural land-use choices.
FAQ
The original model assumes a single, uniform transport technology, but in real settings transport modes vary considerably. Differences in road quality, vehicle use, or the presence of waterways can change the effective cost of distance.
As transport networks improve, activities that were once located near the market may shift outward because reduced travel time and cost make distance less restrictive.
Regions with minimal infrastructure often display patterns closer to the classic model, while highly connected regions show more complex spatial arrangements.
Certain high-value crops may require climate or soil conditions that simply do not exist near the urban centre.
Other crops may involve specialised inputs, labour, or space-intensive growing methods that are incompatible with densely priced peri-urban land.
Farmers may also choose alternative locations to take advantage of niche markets, reduced competition, or established commodity-processing facilities farther from the city.
Seasonal changes can alter road accessibility, water levels on navigable routes, or fuel costs, affecting how easily goods move to market.
These fluctuations may temporarily shift the economic viability of certain products, especially those sensitive to delays or spoilage.
In regions with strong wet or dry seasons, land-use choices may reflect year-round logistical constraints rather than average annual conditions.
Modern fuel sources such as electricity and natural gas have replaced wood as household energy sources, reducing the need for nearby timber.
Forestry operations now often rely on mechanised harvesting and long-distance transport, allowing timber to be sourced from much farther away.
Urban expansion has also consumed former timber rings, pushing forest industries outward or replacing them with residential or industrial land uses.
As cities expand outward, formerly peripheral agricultural zones become absorbed into built-up areas, pushing farming activities farther into rural space.
This expansion can compress or eliminate certain rings, especially intensive horticulture and dairy that rely on proximity to consumers.
The resulting spatial reorganisation may create new subcentres or markets, generating multiple overlapping land-use patterns rather than a single set of concentric rings.
Practice Questions
Question 1 (1–3 marks)
Explain why highly perishable agricultural goods are located closest to the market in the von Thünen model.
Mark Scheme:
Award up to 3 marks:
1 mark for identifying that perishable goods spoil quickly or lose value over time.
1 mark for noting that shorter transport distances reduce spoilage or transport costs.
1 mark for explaining that proximity to the market maximises profit or maintains product quality.
Question 2 (4–6 marks)
Using the principles of the von Thünen model, analyse how transportation costs and distance from the market influence patterns of agricultural land use.
Mark Scheme:
Award up to 6 marks:
1 mark for stating that transportation costs increase with distance from the market.
1 mark for explaining that high-value or bulky goods locate closer to the market due to higher transport costs.
1 mark for describing that lower-value, less perishable goods can be farmed farther away.
1 mark for linking decreasing land value with increasing distance from the market.
1 mark for identifying the concept of concentric land-use rings.
1 mark for any additional developed point showing clear understanding, such as how profit calculations or economic decision-making determine spatial arrangements.
