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Competing or Compatible Capitalisms? Exurban Sprawl and High-Value Agriculture in Southwestern Oregon

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A Comparative Political Ecology of Exurbia

Abstract

Growth in rural residential housing is broadly considered detrimental to nearby commercial agriculture. This chapter examines the historical relationship between agriculture and rural residential development in Southwestern Oregon, uncovering the contingent nature of this assumed conflict. Rather than conflicting with farming, rural population growth and the marketing of the countryside for an idealized rural lifestyle in the nineteenth and early twentieth century actually provided the needed capital and labor. Thus the passage of statewide land-use regulation in 1973 disrupted the existing land-use management regime by attempting to separate agricultural and residential uses. Local resistance to state land-use regulation reflects this historical mix of land uses. This case has implications for broader debates on the compatibility of different types of rural land uses, namely, consumptive versus extractive industries. The history of land use in Southwestern Oregon suggests that conflicts between extractive and consumptive industries are contingent on the particular uses in question.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Around Medford, the largest city in Jackson County, amenity migrants commonly live within the city limits, in small towns, or are intermixed into rural areas.

  2. 2.

    Suburban densities are commonly single family homes on 1/4 to 1/2 acre, while exurban settlement is often one home per 1 acre to 20 acres.

  3. 3.

    Superintendent Arant estimated the number of visitors to Crater Lake in 1905 to be between 1200–1400 (Report of the Superintendent <CitationRef CitationID="CR39" >1913</Citation Ref>).

  4. 4.

    “Taking the waters” was a common phrase referring to the purported healing properties of bathing in mineral hot springs.

  5. 5.

    The summer Chautauqua productions eventually led to the development of the now famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival that runs practically year round in Ashland and attracts approximately 90,000 visitors a year (Oregon Shakespeare <CitationRef CitationID="CR35" >2012</Citation Ref>).

  6. 6.

    While farm size is often used to estimate income and indicate farm type, earnings per acre vary widely depending on the crop grown.

  7. 7.

    The Democratic Times of Jacksonville, July 14, 1898, reported one of these sheriff sales, in which the 214 acres of orchard land belonging to the Orchard Home Association was sold to the Portland Trust Co. for $5500.

  8. 8.

    The first irrigation project in Jackson County, the Fish Lake Water Company , was privately financed. In 1910, Pat Welch, a wealthy contractor from Spokane, Washington, bought the company and began promoting and selling irrigated small parcels to aspiring fruit growers.

  9. 9.

    Fruit growers are by no means united in opposition to statewide planning. Many have concerns about specific elements of the regulations that they believe limit their ability to be economically successful, but express strong support for farmland conservation. Some believe current planning regulations are not protective enough.

  10. 10.

    One exception is Robbins et al. (<CitationRef CitationID="CR43" >2012</Citation Ref>).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Stout, Menominee, WI, 54751, USA

    Innisfree McKinnon

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  1. Innisfree McKinnon
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Correspondence to Innisfree McKinnon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Laura E. Taylor

  2. Environmental Studies, Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA

    Patrick T. Hurley

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McKinnon, I. (2016). Competing or Compatible Capitalisms? Exurban Sprawl and High-Value Agriculture in Southwestern Oregon. In: Taylor, L., Hurley, P. (eds) A Comparative Political Ecology of Exurbia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29462-9_5

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