Profit-maximizing behavior determines the rents that will be bid for a piece of land in an agricultural or urban context, and competition among potential users determines the resulting use of that land. Techniques recently developed in urban land use theory are shown to apply to agricultural land use as well, and can be particularly useful in studying land use change at the urban fringe. This report highlights the economic principles governing land use and ways in which they can be applied in current and future land use research.