Journal of Rural Studies最新文献

{"title":"Understanding the barriers and enablers to agroforestry adoption in Ireland through an innovation systems approach","authors":"Rachel Irwin ,&nbsp;Ian Short ,&nbsp;Áine Ní Dhubháin","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103641","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103641","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The innovation of agroforestry is relatively new in Ireland, with uptake lagging behind targets. This study aimed to identify the reasoning behind this and identify the main barriers to the uptake of agroforestry. The Innovation Systems Approach was used as the analytical framework to the study whereby a structural-functional analysis was used to identify the main barriers/blocking mechanisms. Thirty-three interviews across all four domains of the innovation system (research, intermediary, enterprise and influencing) were undertaken with actors from the wider agricultural and forestry sectors networks. The results demonstrate the following key failures of the current Irish Agroforestry Innovation system: a low level of knowledge of agroforestry; a lack of research undertaken and capacity; a lack of interaction between actors; policy issues; and a lack of goals within actor organisations in supporting and promoting agroforestry. The paper provides a number of recommendations aimed at reducing the identified failures laid out as a set of goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103641"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143748605","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":"Determinants of collective action by farm producers: A meta-analysis of the likelihood of co-operative membership","authors":"Jasper Grashuis","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103639","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103639","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Collectively owned and controlled by farm producers, co-operatives have been prominent and successful in many countries. The empirical literature on co-operatives is extensive, part of which considers the various determinants of co-operative membership. However, the evidence is mixed and scattered, which warrants a meta-analysis to help inform market and policy initiatives to increase the incidence of collective action by farm producers. Our search yielded 168 studies, 213 model results, and 924 effect size estimates for the ten most common determinants: gender, age, experience, education, household size, farm size, herd size, off-farm income, credit access, and market distance. On the basis of random-effects model results, eight of the ten determinants (excluding off-farm income and market distance) have a positive and significant effect on the likelihood of co-operative membership at the 99 % confidence level. Thus, farm producers who are small, female, young, inexperienced, uneducated, or credit-constrained are less likely to obtain co-operative membership. However, the effect size magnitudes are arguably small; effect size dispersions are not explained significantly by common study-level characteristics such as location (i.e. continent) or commodity sector (e.g. coffee). Information of local contexts is necessary to better understand heterogeneity in effect size observations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103639"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143738609","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":"A room with a blue view: The impact of Blue Economy activities on housing prices across Scottish regions","authors":"Marcello Graziano ,&nbsp;Maurizio Fiaschetti ,&nbsp;John W. Gross ,&nbsp;Karen A. Alexander ,&nbsp;Alberto Longo ,&nbsp;Tim O'Higgins","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103632","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103632","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the indirect impacts of sustainable transitions on coastal communities by analysing the relationship between the visibility of Blue Economy activity and house prices using four Scottish regions as a case example. The research employs hedonic price modelling and spatial econometrics to assess how the visibility of various Blue Economy activities, such as conservation, fossil fuel extraction, ports and aquaculture, has influenced residential property prices from 2012 to 2019. Utilising a unique database of property listings and geographic data, the analysis considers three distance bands to determine the extent to which ocean views containing different marine activities affect housing values. The findings reveal that oil and gas sites negatively impact housing prices across all distance bands and property price quartiles, consistent with existing literature on land-based oil and gas extraction. Conservation activities like Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) only affect prices positively at larger distances when spatial autocorrelation is accounted for, indicating a nuanced relationship between environmental conservation and property values. The study also highlights the complex interactions between aquaculture and housing prices, with positive effects noted at closer distances. Moreover, the analysis shows that port facilities positively influence housing prices, suggesting that accessibility to job opportunities and public services provided by ports is a valued amenity in rural, tourist-oriented regions. This study's methodological innovations contribute to a deeper understanding of the spatial effects of Blue Economy activities on housing prices, providing valuable insights for marine spatial planning and regional economic strategies in coastal areas across the world.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103632"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143738612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Agricultural land system transition based on resilience and vitality: A case study on the Loess Plateau (Yulin, China)","authors":"Li Fei,&nbsp;Meng Bin,&nbsp;Wang Yibin","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103643","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103643","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agricultural land systems can undergo three types of changes: fluctuation, sustainable transition, and unsustainable transition. Developing targeted policies to promote the sustainable transition of agricultural land systems can provide guarantees for the achievement of sustainable development goals such as no poverty (SDG1), zero hunger (SDG2), and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems (SDG15). However, this requires a comprehensive framework to determine whether the transition of agricultural land systems is sustainable. Therefore, the Loess Plateau (Yulin), with its fragile ecological environment, long agricultural history, and tense human-environment relations, was selected as the case area to explore the characteristics, mechanisms, and regulatory pathways of agricultural land system transition, by constructing a conceptual framework that integrated system resilience and vitality. The results indicated that driven by socio-economic development (urbanization, economic growth, and technological innovation) and natural environmental changes (climate change and environmental change), agricultural land systems on the Loess Plateau underwent an unsustainable transition around 2013, which was regulated by national and local strategies and policies. The rapid improvement in system resilience was attributed to the human input subsystem (41 %) and the agricultural output subsystem (39 %), while the significant declining vitality was mainly maintained by the natural support subsystem. Therefore, enhancing the vitality of the human input subsystem and the agricultural output subsystem was a priority choice to promote the sustainable transition of agricultural land systems on the Loess Plateau. Under the new urbanization carried by counties and rural revitalization strategy, reducing agricultural labor force, improving agricultural mechanization level and utilization efficiency of agricultural chemicals (such as fertilizers, pesticides, and films), accelerating agricultural industry development and farmers' income increase, popularizing fallow rotation and climate intelligent agricultural management models would be effective measures to heighten the sustainability of agricultural land systems. Moreover, the analytical framework of agricultural land system transition presented in this study was feasible and credible, and had the potential to be applied in human-environment systems and social-ecological systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103643"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143738611","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":"Understanding the transition process and dynamic mechanism of farmland use functions: A comparative analysis from Eastern and Western China","authors":"Jingwei Xiang,&nbsp;Haiwen Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103642","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103642","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The multifunctional utilization of farmland is critical for food security, socioeconomic stability, and ecological sustainability, and understanding its characteristics and driving mechanisms is important for promoting the efficient use of farmland and achieving harmonious development between human and land. However, comparative analyses across differing regions are lacking, which makes it difficult to comprehend developmental differences among regions and coordinate the use of farmland resources. Case studies were conducted in Xianju County (developed eastern region) and Shidian County (less-developed western region), China. The comprehensive function score was calculated using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution method, characteristics and mechanisms driving the functional transformation of farmland use from 2000 to 2020 were compared and developmental strategies for the two regions proposed. There was evident significant heterogeneity in the multifunctional transformation of farmland use between the two counties. Shidian County experienced three transformation stages: mild degeneration, fluctuating development, and rapid improvement, while Xianju County progressed through stages of mild degeneration, rapid improvement, and differentiated development. The demands of social development, constraints on resource endowments, impetus of diverse stakeholder behaviors, and the regulation of policy and institutional frameworks jointly drove the transformation of farmland use. The gap between the two regions can be narrowed by implementing measures to fully exploit the potential of resources, which would contribute to the nation's common prosperity. This study provides new insights and theoretical support for narrowing regional disparities in farmland benefits and promoting efficient land use, thereby offering a scientific reference for regional collaborative development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103642"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143748606","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":"Symbolic economy of bike rentals in rural and suburban Hong Kong: Capital conversion in competitiveness of traditional and innovative firms","authors":"Tommy Ho-Yin Chan","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103647","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103647","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the symbolic economy emerging around bike rental services in rural and suburban areas of Hong Kong, focusing on the rivalry between traditional bike rental shops and an automated bike-sharing scheme in the New Territories. Employing a Bourdieusian framework, this study examines how symbolic capital, as immaterial power, and economic capital, as material resources, together shape the legitimacy, competitiveness, and resilience of mobility providers within the fluid, porous boundaries of rural and urban spaces. Drawing on a six-month ethnographic study—comprising interviews, ride-alongs, and participant observation—the findings show that bike-sharing services initially struggle with symbolic representation and legitimacy, perceived as disordered byproducts of hyper-capitalist expansion. These services gain legitimacy through urban-focused symbolic strategies, such as branding themselves as part of the public transport system, which naturalises values like efficiency and modernity as universal standards. This process, however, can impose symbolic violence on rural communities by embedding urban priorities as ‘common sense’, marginalising local traditions and disrupting established rural practices. In response, traditional rentals resist this shift by emphasising localised, human-centred services that strengthen rural identity and autonomy, drawing on a habitus rooted to community ties. The dynamic interplay of symbolic and economic capital highlights a deepening rural-urban divide, as divergent habitus shape market dynamics and user perceptions within these contested spaces. This study underscores how symbolic practices shape socio-economic dynamics and competitive advantages in the mobility sector, reinforcing rural-urban disparities. It cautions that efforts to bridge this divide may unintentionally perpetuate symbolic violence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103647"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143748530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multiple marginalizations: Understanding rural restructuring around metropolitan development zone — A case study from Pengdu Village, Shanghai","authors":"Tianyu Li ,&nbsp;Pinyu Chen ,&nbsp;Xiang Kong ,&nbsp;Dolores Sánchez-Aguilera","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103645","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103645","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As urbanization and industrialization progress rapidly in China, villages around metropolitan development zones are at risk of marginalization. Although a number of studies have focused on the issue of rural marginalization, there is no comprehensive analytical framework for rural marginalization, the situation of rural marginalization around development zones is unclear, and its dimensions and mechanisms of rural marginalization have not yet been fully revealed. We constructed an analytical framework for multiple rural marginalization, and used Pengdu village in Shanghai as a typical case, integrating the methods of participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and statistical analysis into a rural study. We found that Pengdu Village faces multiple marginalization in the context of the construction and development of the Minhang Economic and Technological Development Zone, which is centrally manifested in four dimensions: physical marginalization, economic marginalization, social marginalization, and psychological marginalization. These four dimensions of marginalization are intertwined and reinforce each other, contributing to the overall marginalization. The multiple marginalization of rural areas is driven by a combination of forces emanating from globalization as well as the power, capital and social structures in which rural areas are embedded. To solve the rural development dilemma brought about by rural marginalization, initiatives such as bottom-up rural social innovation and rural livelihood diversification are feasible paths to achieve rural transformation and development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103645"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143748528","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":"The ripple effects of land consolidation on poverty alleviation: A case study of Longbaotang Village in Chongqing, China","authors":"Fangzhou Xia ,&nbsp;Songpei Zhang ,&nbsp;Yuliu Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103646","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103646","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With their explicit economic, social, and environmental impacts, the implementation of land consolidation projects (LCPs) has facilitated China’s tremendous achievements in poverty alleviation in recent years. However, the mechanisms driving the multidimensional poverty-reduction effects of LCPs remain insufficiently understood. Grounded in multidimensional poverty theory, lifecycle theory, and an input-output analysis framework, this study develops a theoretical framework for governing multidimensional poverty through LCPs from a full-lifecycle perspective. Building on this foundation, the study constructs a five-layer model of LCPs effects, each representing a specific poverty-reduction effect. To evaluate the model, the study examines whether these effects exhibit long-term and significant ripple-like patterns over time. A case study of Longbaotang Village demonstrates that LCPs effectively alleviate poverty by increasing rural residents’ direct income, enhancing agricultural productivity, promoting land registration, improving public welfare, and boosting regional tourism-driven economic development. These findings highlight the comprehensive and sustained poverty alleviation effects of LCPs. Moreover, as LCPs are platforms that can integrate various poverty-reduction factors, this study also suggests that the poverty-reduction effects of the LCPs may not follow a strict chronological order and their ripple patterns may tend to converge rather than diverge. Overall, the findings are of theoretical and empirical significance for understanding the impact of the LCPs on poverty-reduction effects in China. To further enhance the role of LCPs in poverty alleviation, this study proposes three policy recommendations: integrating planning and actively implementing LCPs to address multidimensional poverty, establishing a systematic monitoring and evaluation mechanism to track their impacts, and enhancing the platform effects of LCPs by optimizing resource allocation and coordination across project phases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103646"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143724458","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":"Empowering Sub-Saharan farmers: The transformative effect of mobile money in agriculture","authors":"Serge Stéphane Ky","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103637","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103637","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the adoption of digital financial services among farmers in 25 Sub-Saharan African economies using data from the World Bank's Global Findex 2021. Applying a logit model, we find that farmers are more likely to adopt mobile money accounts than non-farmers, particularly in rural areas. However, the adoption rate remains below 30 %, highlighting the limited transformative effect of mobile money on financial inclusion. Moreover, we find that farmers primarily use mobile money for saving, borrowing, receiving remittances, and digital payments. Additionally, disadvantaged groups such as female and less educated individuals are likely to use mobile money for borrowing and remittances, offering pathways to strengthen agricultural livelihoods. Interestingly, our results show that mobile money adoption and usage are higher in countries that introduced the service more recently, suggesting that late adopters leverage mobile money services more intensively. These findings, robust to propensity score matching and inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment methods, provide actionable insights for policymakers to promote digital financial inclusion and agricultural resilience across the region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 103637"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143679643","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":"Farm transformation in the context of climate change: Beyond the incremental-transformational divide","authors":"Ruth Nettle,&nbsp;Margaret Ayre,&nbsp;Nicole Reichelt,&nbsp;Michael Santhanam-Martin,&nbsp;Andre Vikas","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103628","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103628","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Effectively supporting farm transformation in the face of climate change requires improved understanding of the processes involved in the practices of farm transformation or farm system redesign. This paper presents a case study of farm transformations in the dairy sector in Australia. We interviewed twenty-three dairy farmers (from nineteen farms) and nineteen service providers in two regions about their decisions to move from a grazing-based to more intensified feeding systems including permanently housed production systems. These farm system transformations are highly contentious; however, we use these transformations as an explanatory case from which to develop theory about what the practices of transformation entail. Located in the socio-ecological resilience literature and applying a conceptual framework that integrates social practice theory and the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions, we explore the practices involved in transformational processes and what accelerates or stalls them. We found that transformation is a phased process with each phase having different features and challenges. ‘Starting’ processes were catalysed by water resource policy, extreme weather events, milk market conditions or farm succession and other workforce changes. These conditions also influenced whether changes, having been explored, were put on hold, terminated, revised or put in motion. ‘Redesigning the farm system’ involved reshaping an established network or system of dairy farming practices, while ‘Sustaining the transformation’ was influenced by what was relevant and possible within the regional context. While a dairy farming system that has been transformed retains similar practices such as cow care and feeding, the practice elements and links to other practices outside dairying, including the key actors and sociocultural conditions, change significantly. Our findings contribute to an improved conceptualisation of the transformative process in farming. Firstly, by showing that processes commonly defined as incremental adaptation are not separate or lesser to transformative processes but integral to transformation. Secondly, that understanding change through the lens of practice within a multi-level perspective allows policy makers to better anticipate farm changes and their consequences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"116 ","pages":"Article 103628"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}