AP® Human Geography review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/geo/units/5/5-8)
Unit 5 · Topic 5.8
5.8 Von Thünen Model
Johann Heinrich von Thünen's 1826 model explains farm land use as rings around a single market, based on how costly each product is to transport. Its assumptions (one market, flat and even land, horse-drawn transport) don't hold today, but its core idea, that distance to market shapes what farmers grow, still helps explain real patterns.
Key terms
- von Thünen model
- transportation cost
- perishability
- concentric rings
- market gardening
The model and its assumptions
Von Thünen was a German landowner who studied the costs on his own estate and published The Isolated State in 1826. He imagined an isolated region with one city in the middle, surrounded by farmland, and asked what each farmer would grow to make the most profit.
His key insight: a farmer's profit from a crop is the price at market minus the cost of growing it minus the cost of hauling it to market. Transportation cost rises with distance, so the best crop to grow depends on how far you are from the city.
The model rests on these assumptions:
- There is one market city, and no trade with the outside world.
- The land is a flat plain with the same soil and climate everywhere (an isotropic plain).
- Farmers carry goods by horse and cart straight to the city, with no roads, rivers or railroads, so transport cost depends only on distance.
- Farmers act rationally to maximize profit.
The four rings
Behind the rings is the same logic as bid-rent theory (5.6): the closer the land is to market, the more it's worth, so the uses that earn the most per acre or that spoil fastest outbid others for it.
| Ring (from the city outward) | Land use | Why it's there |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Market gardening and dairy | Perishable goods like milk and vegetables must reach market quickly; high value per acre pays for expensive land |
| 2 | Forest (wood for fuel and building) | Wood was heavy and bulky, so costly to haul, and every city needed lots of it |
| 3 | Grains and field crops | Grain keeps well and is lighter for its value, so it can travel farther |
| 4 | Ranching and grazing | Animals can walk themselves to market, and grazing needs large areas of cheap land |
| Beyond | Wilderness | Too far to farm for profit |
Limitations
- Real land isn't flat or uniform. Mountains, rivers and soil quality bend the rings. Von Thünen himself showed that a navigable river would stretch the rings along its banks.
- Modern transportation changes everything. Trucks, highways, refrigeration and air freight make distance much less important. Kenya flies cut flowers to Europe overnight, and New Zealand ships butter and lamb around the world.
- There are many markets, not one, and global trade links them.
- Government policy, like subsidies and zoning, affects what farmers grow.
- Specialty regions don't fit the rings. Wine grapes in Napa Valley or oranges in Florida depend on climate and reputation, not distance from one city.
- Forests are no longer needed near cities for fuel.
Where the idea still works
The basic principle still shows up. Dairy farms, plant nurseries and pick-your-own farms cluster near big cities, while ranching and wheat dominate thinly populated areas. At the global scale, some geographers see a rough von Thünen pattern around the huge urban markets of northwestern Europe, with intensive farming near them and more extensive farming farther away.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Where the rings come from (a simple calculation)
On a flat plain around one city, an acre of vegetables earns $1,000 after growing costs, minus $50 per mile for transport. An acre of wheat earns $400 after growing costs, minus $10 per mile. Where will farmers grow each crop?
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Write each crop's profit per acre at distance d miles: vegetables = 1,000 − 50d; wheat = 400 − 10d.
- Step 2: Find where they're equal: 1,000 − 50d = 400 − 10d, so 600 = 40d and d = 15 miles.
- Step 3: Check each side: at 10 miles, vegetables earn $500 and wheat $300, so vegetables win. At 20 miles, vegetables earn $0 and wheat $200, so wheat wins.
- Step 4: Find where wheat stops paying: 400 − 10d = 0 at d = 40 miles.
Answer: Vegetables from the city out to 15 miles, wheat from 15 to 40 miles, and no profitable farming of either beyond 40 miles. The crop with high value but high transport cost takes the inner ring.
- Example 2
Explaining a limitation
Explain one reason the von Thünen model is less useful for explaining agriculture in the United States today.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Name an assumption: transport by horse and cart, with cost rising steadily with distance.
- Step 2: Show what changed: refrigerated trucks and interstate highways move perishable food thousands of miles cheaply.
- Step 3: State the consequence: perishable crops no longer have to be grown next to the city, so the rings break down.
Answer: Model answer: Von Thünen assumed farmers hauled goods by horse and cart, so perishable crops had to be grown near the city. Today, refrigerated trucks on interstate highways carry lettuce from California's Salinas Valley to East Coast cities in a few days, so distance to market no longer decides where perishable crops are grown.
Common mistakes
- Putting the rings in the wrong order. From the center: market gardening and dairy, forest, grain, ranching.
- Forgetting why forest is the second ring. Wood was heavy and needed in large amounts for fuel and building.
- Treating the model as a map of real places. It's a simplified model; always pair it with a limitation when asked to apply it.
- Confusing von Thünen (rural land use around one market) with Burgess's concentric zone model (land use inside a city).
On the exam
- Expect to identify the ring for a product, explain why using perishability or transport cost, and give a limitation.
- When a question gives a diagram with a river or a road, explain how it would distort the rings.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
5 questions on 5.8 Von Thünen Model. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
In von Thünen's model, which sequence correctly lists land uses from the market town outward?
Von Thünen placed forest in the ring just outside market gardening and dairy because
A map of a hypothetical farming region shows a single market city on a navigable river that flows north to south through the region.
The zones of land use are not circles. The zone of vegetable and dairy farms stretches far to the north and south along the river, but extends only a short distance east and west of the city. The other zones are stretched in the same way.
Description of a map of a hypothetical region
Which factor best explains the shape of the zones on the map?
The map shows that the region does not meet which assumption of the von Thünen model?
Which modern development most weakens the model's prediction that perishable products must be grown close to the market?
0 of 5 answered