characteristics by county for the entire region (Figures 6-11)-these figures have the counties divided
into quartiles with respect to each of the characteristics analyzed. Other analyses of Appalachia
have divided the region into northern, central and southern subregions (Isserman 1996a, 1996b,
Cushing and Rogers1996) and the distribution of agricultural characteristics tends to follow a similar
pattern, but with many exceptions. The central area consists mostly of southern counties in West
Virginia, and eastern counties in Kentucky and Tennessee which tend to be coal producing and the
least favorably situated for agricultural purposes (see Cushing and Rogers 1996 for the definition of
the subregions).
The percentage of land in farms is low in many of the counties in the central area but is also
low in northern Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, northern Georgia, and the southern
half of the Alabama portion of the Appalachian region (Figure 6). The larger percentages are in the
western parts of the Region from Ohio southward as well as in southwestern Virginia and
northeastern Tennessee. Average sizes of farms are lower in Appalachian portions of southwestern
West Virginia, eastern Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and the central part of
Alabama; larger sizes are in New York, the northeast and southeast part of Appalachian
Pennsylvania, Virginia, eastern West Virginia, southern Alabama, and Mississippi (Figure 7). The
value of land and buildings per acre are lower in New York and an adjacent area of Pennsylvania,
northern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and Mississippi; the larger values per acre are in the
central portion of Pennsylvania, eastern portion of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia and a few counties in central Alabama (Figure 8). The larger values per acre tend to
correspond to the areas with smaller sizes of farms.
Values of farm marketings per farms seem to be lower in West Virginia (except the eastern
panhandle), Kentucky, a few counties in the western area of North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee
while larger values tend to be in New York, Pennsylvania, the eastern part of North Carolina, Geogia
and Alabama (Figure 9). The lower percentages of farmers working off farm (under 60 percent) are
concentrated in New York and Pennsylvania with scattered counties in the other areas while the
counties with the larger shares tend to be concentrated in Ohio, the western portion of Tennessee,
South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi (Figure 10). Farm population as a percent of total
population is relatively, generally under 5 percent but with a few counties with higher percentages,
up to 24 percent (Figure 11). The lower percentages tend to be in the center of the region from
Pennsylvania southwestward through Alabama; these tend to be in coal producing areas although
there are many exceptions. The higher concentrations tend to be in the western counties of Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi together with some eastern counties in West Virginia,
Virginia, Tennessee and northern North Carolina.
Niche, Specialty, and other Farm Income Enterprises
The rough nature of its agricultural resource base makes Appalachia relatively
noncompetitive in the production of large scale crop enterprises such as food and feed grains or other
enterprises requiring large and relatively flat areas amenable to cultivation with the large equipment
used for efficient production. This is a primary reason that animal agriculture has been of such
importance to the region’s agriculture. However, high value specialty, niche or specialty crops and
other sources of income that require relatively little land area due to the intensity of production
and/or that can be spread over larger areas where mechanical intervention is not required can be