Marginal land

Marginal land near the a4104 road in Great Britain.

Marginal land is land that is of little agricultural value because the cost of producing crops from the land would be worth less than any amount of rent that would be paid for access to the land.[1] Land may be marginal for a number of reasons, including poor water supply, poor soil quality, pollution from previous industrial activities, terrain challenges such as excessive slope, or excessive distance from means of transportation.[2]

Marginal land is not entirely useless for human purposes. For example, certain breeds of free-roaming livestock, such as the English Leicester sheep, are able to forage on such land. There are also some plants that can be grown in land that would be considered marginal for most agricultural uses. For example, cucurbita foetidissima, the buffalo gourd, is well adapted to marginal agricultural lands such as sandy loam soils which have to be well-drained.[3][4]

References

  1. ↑ William Baumol, Alan Blinder, Economics: Principles and Policy (2011), p. 409.
  2. ↑ David Pimentel, Global Economic and Environmental Aspects of Biofuels (2012), p. 92.
  3. ↑ Bemis, J. (1975). Underexploited Tropical Plants with Promising Economic Value. National Research Council. pp. 94–99. ISBN 978-0-89499-186-8.
  4. ↑ Nelson, J.; Scheerens, J.; Bucks, D.; Berry, J. (1989). "Irrigation Effects on Water Use, and Production of Tap Roots and Starch of Buffalo Gourd". Agronomy Journal 81: 439–442.