Journal of Rural Studies最新文献

{"title":"Understanding food (In) security through land and livelihoods: Evidence from longitudinal household data","authors":"Daniel Egerson ,&nbsp;Essi Edjodjinam Kpegba-Fiaboe ,&nbsp;Aaron Kobina Christian","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103750","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103750","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the dynamic relationship between land tenure, agricultural productivity, livestock ownership, and household food security in rural South Africa, using longitudinal data from the Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community (HAALSI) collected across three waves (2014–2022) in the Agincourt region of Mpumalanga Province. Drawing on household-level data from adults aged 40 and older, the study analyzes trends in land access, food production, livestock holdings, and socioeconomic characteristics. Descriptive and regression analyses reveal significant declines in food security and private land ownership over time, with only partial recovery in later periods. Secure land tenure is consistently associated with improved food security, while agricultural productivity shows variable effects depending on tenure conditions. Livestock ownership, particularly of cattle, is linked to increased food insecurity, underscoring the complex economic and cultural dimensions of asset management in rural contexts. Household wealth and wage income emerge as the strongest and most consistent predictors of improved food security, especially in more recent waves. The findings highlight the enduring influence of historical land dispossession, economic vulnerability, and structural inequality on rural livelihoods. Addressing food insecurity will require multifaceted interventions that strengthen tenure security, support livelihood diversification, and expand social protection.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103750"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144280094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Socio-technical networks in rural contexts: Analysing shearing schedules and functioning in Patagonian sheep farming","authors":"Ezequiel Bernardo Gonzalez ,&nbsp;Marcos Horacio Easdale ,&nbsp;María Marcela Crovetto","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103747","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103747","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The interaction between farmers and rural contractors enhances the efficiency of agricultural processes. The seasonality of agricultural activities concentrates rural contractors work during specific time windows and requires detailed scheduling. In this article, we propose a socio-technical network perspective to study the shearing processes on wool production in Northern Patagonia, Argentina. We analysed the functioning of socio-technical shearing networks (STSN), consisting of farmers and shearing contractors, throughout the development of their work schedules. Data were collected from wool shearing records and semi-structured interviews with shearing contractors, and principal component analysis were performed to characterize the STSN. The analysis of STSN highlighted two main socio-technical configurations based on shearing capacity and farm production scale. The first corresponded to shearing contractors with lower shearing capacities and a higher proportion of small-scale sheep farming farms, developing shearing schedules with lower work volumes. The second consisted of shearing contractors with higher shearing capacities and sheep farming farms of varying production scales, developing shearing schedules with higher work volumes. However, similar socio-technical configurations did not always result in identical functioning. While some prioritised efficiency by maximizing work volume in fewer farms with shorter travel times, others adapted to wider temporal and geographical scopes. This highlights the complex interplay between socio-technical configurations and performance outcomes in scheduling implementation. It reflects different underlying economic and work strategies in applying technological practices within specific social and environmental contexts. STSN illustrated how harvesting processes can be understood through a more complex perspective than mere practice, integrating social actors during technology application.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103747"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144271383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Persistency of the shrinkage challenge in eastern Germany, legacy effects and limited policy impact","authors":"Ingrid Machold,&nbsp;Thomas Dax","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103725","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103725","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Severe demographic decline is not only observed at the European margins, but also in rural contexts in Central Europe. The reunification of Germany in 1989 was hailed as a political change enhancing expectations for a swift catching-up process of eastern Germany, including rural regions with the strongest shrinkage experiences. However, economic and social transformation challenges even aggravated demographic losses leading to an ageing society with limited territorial attractiveness. Socio-economic analyses thus underpin the legacy effect of political systems, and the inherent difficulty for overcoming institutional lock-in. These challenges are experienced at local, regional and national levels and pertain, despite a long commitment to tackle shrinking problems at different scales, with the consequence that local and regional actors feel hardly understood or even neglected in their practical efforts for raising spatial identity, agency and justice. Based on a regional case in eastern Germany the paper explores the persistent features of these observed obstacles and the limited effects of “inside” support from national and subnational scales to bolster a revitalization of these regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103725"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144261634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Niche market making in the UK sheep sector; performing the halal market in uncertain times","authors":"John Lever ,&nbsp;Mara Miele ,&nbsp;Shabbir Dastgir ,&nbsp;Awal Fuseini","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103728","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103728","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Focussing on the UK sheep sector, this paper explores the relational formation of niche halal meat markets, examining how performation struggles shape and relocate market controversies amid post-Brexit uncertainty and economic crisis. While the prevailing political and media-led controversy over the non-stun religious slaughter of animals has waned considerably, it has not disappeared altogether; rather, it has been relocated through processes of b/ordering and the reframing value attribution. Drawing on the geographies of marketisation literature, we examine how dual markets for stunned and non-stunned halal meat persist as interdependent trajectories, and how both remain central to the resilience of rural farming communities. Through a mixed-method approach, including livestock market observations and interviews with supply chain actors, we demonstrate how the halal market is recursively shaped by spatial, moral, and calculative logics. These ongoing performation struggles reveal that market order is achieved through ongoing and contested negotiations across economic, ethical, and religious dimensions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103728"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144271382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How regional integration strategies enhance state farm employee performance? An empowerment perspective","authors":"Yifan Ji,&nbsp;Desheng Zhang,&nbsp;Tao Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103741","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103741","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>State Farm-Local Region Integration (SFLRI) represents a series of strategies aimed at optimizing the management of state-owned agribusinesses (SOAs), improving agricultural production, and promoting agricultural modernization. This study focuses on China State Farm and employs the IV-LASSO method to identify optimal instrumental and control variables. Utilizing the instrumental variable approach, the study empirically examines the impact of SFLRI on employee performance, with a particular emphasis on its empowerment effect as a mediating mechanism. The findings indicate that SFLRI significantly enhances employee task, relationship, innovation, and learning performance. This improvement is primarily driven by increased resource acquisition and strengthened risk management abilities. Furthermore, the effects of SFLRI differ based on whether employees receive farm-provided social security. Employees with farm-provided social security show improvements across all performance dimensions, whereas those without experience more limited gains, primarily in innovation and learning performance. These results provide valuable theoretical and empirical insights for advancing reforms in SOAs and improving the management efficiency and production levels of the agricultural sector.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103741"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144254482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Misaligned perceptions: Reverse effect of agricultural product brand image on consumer purchase intentions","authors":"Xinwei Liu,&nbsp;Xiaoyang Qiao,&nbsp;Xiaotian Liu,&nbsp;Maowei Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103739","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103739","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the deepening of China's rural revitalization strategy and the increasing demand for green agricultural products at home and abroad, agricultural product branding remains one of the most important ways to promote rural economic development and agricultural transformation. The brand image of agricultural products has gradually become one of the reference standards for consumers to choose high-quality agricultural products, with a good brand image of agricultural products playing an important role in influencing consumer choice. This paper constructed a two-way interaction model for agricultural product branding based on the CBBE model and ERG theory. A multidimensional measurement framework was built for brand image, including functional, value, emotional, cultural, and visual dimensions. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to verify its impact on consumers' brand loyalty and purchase intention. A quantitative study was conducted on a random sample of 516 Chinese consumers using the whole cluster random sampling method. Results showed that functional, emotional, cultural, value, and visual dimensions of agricultural brand image had a positive effect on the brand image of agricultural products. The direct impact of agricultural brand image on consumer purchase intention was not significant. and had an inverse effect. Agricultural brand image had a positive and significant impact on brand loyalty. In addition, brand loyalty played an important role in mediating the relationship between brand image and consumer purchase intention. Finally, based on the results of this study, a case study of agricultural product brand image building - \"Shangnong Youguo\", was performed. This study emphasizes that brand image building for agricultural products requires a combination of five dimensions to achieve long-term brand loyalty. These findings provide insights for companies to develop a scientific and effective brand strategy and build a superior brand image. They also provide theoretical support for agricultural product branding and important implications for industry practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103739"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144254481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pensions through the lens of the farmer in Ireland","authors":"Michael T. Hayden ,&nbsp;Bridget McNally ,&nbsp;Hana Hlochova ,&nbsp;Anne Kinsella","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103717","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103717","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Within the realm of social security and pension coverage, the self-employed community are a distinct cohort and within the self-employed, farmers are a further discreet sub-set. This paper set out to specifically examine the extent and nature of pension coverage within the farming community in Ireland, the attitudes of farmers towards private pension provision, and what farmers expect their primary source of income will be post-retirement. We find that the multi-pillar pension structure architecture is particularly appropriate and necessary given the diversity of incomes across farm systems. Notwithstanding this, our research suggests that not all farmers at lower income levels have the expectation of the State pension on retirement and not all farmers who could afford a supplementary pension have the confidence in the pensions system to make that commitment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103717"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144243278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Importance of different policy instruments in the introduction of sustainable innovation in fruit and vegetable value chains: The perception of coordinators of European research and innovation projects","authors":"Riccardo Borgia ,&nbsp;Matteo Zavalloni ,&nbsp;Davide Viaggi","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103695","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103695","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The constant introduction of innovation along agri-food value chains is fundamental to increase their sustainability in environmental, economic and social terms and to allow the sector to contribute to sustainable rural development. Operating by means of financial, regulatory and informational instruments, public policies can play a central role in sustaining this process. However, not always all these instruments are perceived equally appropriate in this regard. The objective of this study is to explore the importance of the different policy instruments for the introduction of specific types of innovation and the improvement of specific dimensions of sustainability as perceived by 90 project coordinators retrieved on the platform of the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI). The study shows that most of the analysed respondents – although belonging to different kinds of organisations (in terms of typology, provenience, area of work, etc.) – converge in recognising the financial instruments as the most important ones. On the contrary, educational and informational instruments, as for instance advisory/extension services and peer-to-peer initiatives, are largely seen as the ones most in need of a stronger public support. Most of the respondents, also demand reinforced public policies for improving the environmental dimension of sustainability and boosting technological innovations along agri-food value chains.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103695"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144243274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Localized practices of rural tourism makers from a resilience perspective: A comparative study in China","authors":"Jiuxia Sun ,&nbsp;Ming Zhou ,&nbsp;Siya Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103722","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103722","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global research consistently highlights tourism as a pivotal strategy for fostering rural revitalization and reshaping urban-rural relations. Drawing upon the urban-rural mobility traits of rural tourism makers, this study delineates three distinct categories: endogenous, integrative, and nested. Through comparative case analysis, this study examines the influence of rural tourism makers (RTMs) on urban-rural resilience in China across micro-, meso-, and macro-level dimensions. Specifically, endogenous tourism entrepreneurs primarily leverage local resources and social capital to foster adaptive development that is deeply rooted in rural characteristics. In contrast, exogenous tourism entrepreneurs facilitate the optimal allocation of urban and rural resources through strategic adaptability in both urban and rural milieus. Nested tourism entrepreneurs exemplify a nascent trend in urban-rural integration, emphasizing the centrality of rural areas within this framework. Ultimately, this research endeavors to construct a rural-urban resilience framework, which provides a valuable reference for global efforts aimed at achieving rural revitalization, contributing to a deeper understanding of the intricate interplay between tourism entrepreneurship and urban-rural dynamics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103722"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144222139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Farmers’ motives, goals, values, and participation in agricultural training programs: Uncovering the links in short food supply chains","authors":"Chrysanthi Charatsari ,&nbsp;Iosif Fragkoulis ,&nbsp;Evagelos D. Lioutas","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103719","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103719","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the ambitious European policy targets for upskilling the actors operating in the agrifood sector, farmers' participation rates in agricultural training programs remain low in many countries. To understand why, a pivotal step is to answer two questions. First, what motivates farmers to attend training activities? Second, how do their goals and values interplay with their motivational profiles to affect their intention to participate and actual participation in training? With two cross-sectional quantitative studies focusing on Greece, which has the lowest percentage of agricultural training attendees in the European Union, we aimed to address these questions. Building upon the Self-Determination Theory's autonomous/controlled motivation distinction and relying on data from farmers who distribute their products through short food supply chains (<em>n</em>_{Study 1} = 99, n_{Study 2} = 93), we arrived at a paradox: Although autonomous motivation is critical for shaping farmers' willingness to attend training activities, participation in previous programs is associated with controlled motivation. Attendees of such programs are externally motivated and amotivated individuals who attach higher importance to professional success. At the other end of the spectrum, internally motivated farmers who pursue collective goals and endorse the value of self-development express a high willingness to participate that, however, is not translated into attendance. From a practical standpoint, this paradox reveals that connecting participation in agricultural training with external rewards (e.g., access to subsidies) creates an unfavorable environment for energizing potential attendees' volitional motivation. The present work contributes to our knowledge of the factors catalyzing participation in agricultural training programs by indicating that farmers are more willing to participate in such initiatives when they value learning and associate it with attaining personal development and collective goals than when they <em>must</em> participate.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 103719"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144203332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}