Journal of Rural Studies最新文献

{"title":"Corrigendum to “Climate-smart agriculture & the impact of financial incentives on adoption: an econometric analysis” [J. Rural Stud., 123, March 2026, 104035]","authors":"Callum Alexander, Aiora Zabala, Andreas Kontoleon","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104194","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104194","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"124 ","pages":"Article 104194"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147849669","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 development of entrepreneurship in rural policy over time: Evidence from Finland, 1991–2027","authors":"Teemu Makkonen,&nbsp;Mari Kattilakoski","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104026","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104026","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rural entrepreneurship has become an important scholarly topic. In the literature, it is often stated that entrepreneurship is increasingly regarded as a key policy target in rural development. However, previous research has not systematically mapped the evolution of entrepreneurship in rural policy to verify this notion. Here we investigate the changing importance and meaning given to entrepreneurship in the Finnish Rural Policy Programme, first drafted in 1991. Our analysis shows that, rather than gaining in popularity, the high importance given to entrepreneurship in Finnish rural policy has remained relatively stable over the years. What has changed are the connotations given to 1) entrepreneurship – from a target of sectoral interests that can collide with rural development to a generally accepted positive force of rural vitality, and 2) rural entrepreneurs – from mere innovation adopters to recognition of their innovative capacities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104026"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079843","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":"Life, land and sea: Socioecological transitions in Shetland","authors":"Ilona Kater ,&nbsp;Andrew Garrick","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104048","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104048","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding how human societies and environments have co-evolved over long time periods is critical for informing sustainable resource management today. Using the Shetland Islands, UK, as a case study, this paper applies a socioecological lens to trace changing patterns of resource use from the post-glacial period to the present. Drawing on archaeological, historical, and geographical sources, we detail Shetland's socioecological transitions through a narrative approach, followed by a four-part analytical framework that captures key patterns, processes, and legacies in land-use change. It is shown that, despite relatively limited resources, Shetland has supported communities with diverse forms of resource use, including self-sufficient communities, trade-dependent societies, significant agrarian land use, pastoral communities, fishing-based economies, and feudal land management regimes. The analysis demonstrates that many ecological challenges on the islands derive not from fixed environmental limits, but from past societal decisions and policy regimes. Three key considerations for future resource management in Shetland that emerge from this history are outlined. More broadly, we argue that a deep historical perspective highlights both vulnerabilities and adaptive possibilities, and underscores the need for governance and planning rooted in place-specific socioecological realities. Such an approach can help communities everywhere navigate uncertainty and pursue pathways that are socially just, ecologically resilient, and sustainable over the long term.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104048"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079776","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":"Regular employees in agriculture: how to describe and improve their working conditions","authors":"Franziska Zimmert,&nbsp;Rita Saleh","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104036","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104036","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Farming in Switzerland is still mainly dependent on family work. Nevertheless, non-family employment is gaining importance, and farm managers have to think about recruiting methods, since a labor shortage can be observed in this sector. Due to the lack of relevant data, little is known about the working conditions of employees in agriculture. In this paper, we descriptively compare the working conditions of non-family employees at farms to those in the hospitality sector, which has similar working conditions and is a competitor in employment for the agriculture sector. Based on this analysis, we use linear regression to examine which factors determine the duration of employment in these two sectors. We use data from a 1 % representative sample of the Swiss resident population (2015–2020), which is mainly characterized by regular employment. Hence, we provide insights into a specific, comparatively less-studied subgroup: persons who are permanent residents and therefore partially integrated into national labour market institutions. While our dataset does not capture all qualitative facets of job quality, it does measure several core dimensions consistently, including wages, contractual and actual working hours, timing of work, and indicators related to employment stability. These measurable facets provide a transparent entry point for describing job quality patterns among farm employees and situating them within broader debates on decent work and social sustainability, responding to growing attention to labor standards in agriculture. Our analyses identify four key challenges for non-family employment in the agricultural sector: the high proportion of already retired employees, low wages, long working hours and a comparatively low level of education. Further, the results suggest that a higher income and fixed working time models are positively related to longer employment duration in farming.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104036"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079852","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":"Precarity, belonging, and diagonalism: Rethinking raw milk advocacy beyond post-truth narratives","authors":"Michael Carolan","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104031","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104031","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Debates over raw milk in the United States are often viewed through a post-truth lens, seen as signs of anti-science attitudes, misinformation, or a lack of scientific understanding. Using data from thirty-eight in-depth interviews with raw milk advocates and participant observations of related events, this paper argues that instead of revealing an epistemic crisis, raw milk advocacy exposes an ontological one rooted in experiences of precariousness, institutional neglect, and the search for community. By combining feminist affect theory—specifically, Ahmed's affective economies, Hochschild's feeling rules, and Berlant's cruel optimism—with insights from critical rural studies, the analysis shows how emotions shape what is considered credible knowledge and which authorities are trusted. These affective geographies help explain why raw milk has become a point of connection across seemingly different perspectives, a dynamic called diagonalism: alliances that go beyond traditional political categories. By exploring how raw milk advocacy serves as a way for individuals to express vulnerability, distrust, and hopes for independence and care, the paper challenges deficit-model interventions that focus on correcting facts or boosting scientific literacy. The findings are then used to enrich debates in rural studies by demonstrating how phenomena central to this subfield, including issues like insecurity and corporate power, foster similar diagonal political alliances. The paper concludes by reflecting on how the analysis could be leveraged when approaching these parallel discussions beyond the U.S. context.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104031"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146036313","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":"Gendered cognition, intra-household preference divergence, and behavioral choice: How gender differences shape GM maize adoption in smallholder families","authors":"Yanfang Huang ,&nbsp;Minglong Zhang ,&nbsp;Fengying Nie ,&nbsp;Xianming Yang ,&nbsp;Xiangping Jia ,&nbsp;Kongming Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104083","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104083","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agricultural extension research has paid insufficient attention to intra-household heterogeneity, resulting in promotion strategies that often treat farm households as homogeneous decision-making units. Based on paired survey data from 436 smallholder couples in Yunnan Province, China, this study constructs a “gender cognition<em>–</em>preference divergence<em>–</em>behavioral choice” analytical framework to systematically examine how intra-household gender-based cognitive differences trigger disputes over planting decisions through divergent perceptions of safety risks and benefit evaluations, ultimately influencing Genetically Modified (GM) Maize adoption behavior. The study reveals three key findings: (1) Significant gender asymmetry exists in technology risk-benefit assessment, with women demonstrating 3–5 times stronger safety risk perception than men (p &lt; 0.001). Their risk-inhibiting effect (−27.9%) substantially outweighs men's profit-promoting effect (+16.5%), consistent with the loss aversion principle in behavioral economics. (2) Household decisions exhibit gendered bargaining interactions, where cognitive differences create a “female risk veto → risk-priority bargaining (with a benefit-risk compensation threshold of 1.17) → adoption delay” pathway, collectively reducing technology adoption probability by 16.3 percentage points. (3) Household decision-making authority significantly moderates technology diffusion: male-dominant households exhibit a “patriarchal efficiency advantage” (Δ = −24.4), while female-dominant households display heightened risk sensitivity (Δ = −35.5). In contrast, joint-decision households develop a unique preference divergence-driven adoption pathway (+12 %). This study provides a theoretical foundation for designing gender-sensitive policies in agricultural technology extension, recommending optimized diffusion efficiency through differentiated communication strategies and participatory evaluation mechanisms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104083"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147420770","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":"Addressing the challenges of agro-cattle farming in Bangladesh: A study on educated youth entrepreneurs","authors":"Mahi Uddin ,&nbsp;Nazamul Hoque","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104063","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104063","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agro-cattle farming remains central to Bangladesh's rural economy, yet its potential for employment generation and value creation is constrained by intersecting institutional, climatic, and market barriers. Amid persistent youth unemployment, agro-entrepreneurship has emerged as a contested pathway for sustainable rural livelihoods. This study examines how educated youth entrepreneurs engage with agro-cattle farming and analyzes the challenges and adaptive strategies shaping enterprise sustainability and growth. Based on 22 semi-structured interviews with educated youth agro-cattle entrepreneurs, the study employs thematic analysis informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior and Institutional Theory to examine how entrepreneurial intentions interact with structural conditions. The findings reveal a set of mutually reinforcing constraints, including high input costs, limited access to veterinary and financial services, fragmented landholdings, social stigma surrounding farming, weak market integration, and climate-related risks such as flooding and salinity intrusion. Rather than isolated solutions, the analysis identifies a small number of high-leverage pathways - most notably climate-smart feeding practices, blended tele-veterinary services, and cooperative-based market integration - that enable youth to partially mitigate these constraints. Theoretically, the study contributes to rural studies by demonstrating how youth entrepreneurial intentions are institutionally embedded and systematically disrupted by rural structural conditions, generating a persistent intention–action gap. By conceptualizing educated youth as liminal rural actors navigating agrarian change, the study advances understanding of youth transitions, institutional embeddedness, and rural livelihood diversification in emerging economies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104063"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146190071","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":"Mapping academic discourses on gender in European farming from a feminist political ecology perspective","authors":"Charlotte Voigt ,&nbsp;Larissa da Silva Araujo ,&nbsp;Barbara Stadlmayr ,&nbsp;Joanna Bourke Martignoni ,&nbsp;Stefanie Lemke","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104042","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104042","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104042"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146190072","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":"From culture to capacity: Exploring neo-endogenous dynamics in culture-based development in the Japanese municipality of Higashikawa, the “Town of Photography”","authors":"Ryo Umeda ,&nbsp;Torsti Hyyryläinen ,&nbsp;Toni Ryynänen ,&nbsp;Marie Mahon","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104046","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104046","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We explore how the Japanese national regional development program, <em>Furusato Nozei</em> Hometown Tax Donation System, is implemented innovatively in the Japanese rural municipality of Higashikawa. Originally launched as a regional development program, the <em>Furusato Nozei</em> system evolved into a multi-stakeholder network as private sector platform companies started to coordinate donation transactions and constructed an online marketplace of return gifts offered in return for donations. Drawing on the theory of neo-endogenous development, we conduct a thematic analysis of interview data collected from local actors of Higashikawa, including representatives from the municipality and local enterprises, and from representatives of private platform companies operating in the <em>Furusato Nozei</em> system. Our findings show that the exogenous interventions of the <em>Furusato Nozei</em> system bring extra-local resources to the municipality but also pose governance challenges related to coordination and integrity. The municipality overcomes these by interpreting the exogenous inputs of the <em>Furusato Nozei</em> system through the lens of the municipality’s cultural initiatives, within which the municipality’s local development objectives are framed, resulting in endogenous responses characterized by the <em>Higashikawa Shareholder System</em>. The results illustrate the importance of municipalities as intermediaries in mobilizing local and extra-local resources. We conclude that cultural initiatives provide municipalities with a holistic approach to rural and local development, foster capacity building, and enhance a municipality’s governance capabilities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104046"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146190074","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":"Robotic milking systems in dairy farming: A frontier eco-efficiency approach","authors":"Nicolas Lampach ,&nbsp;Hugo Scherer","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although agriculture remains an important tale in rural areas from a land use perspective, there is a change in the concentration and intensification of agricultural activities that causes considerable environmental problems and undermines the transition to sustainable rural development. To overcome this challenge, international organizations and policy makers advocate that the adoption of digital technologies enables farmers to simultaneously enhance productivity and environmental management, but there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. This article aims to assess the impact of robotic milking systems on eco-efficiency in dairy farming systems in Luxembourg drawing on the life cycle assessment approach, farm accountancy data, machine learning-based inverse propensity weighting technique, and stochastic frontier analysis. In divergence with previous findings from the adoption literature, insights from model-agnostic methods indicate that proxies for farmers’ degree of mechanization tend to play a key role in the adoption process. Although the main findings hint at the positive relationship between digital technology adoption and eco-efficiency, there are large discrepancies in sustainable performance within dairy farming systems. Moreover, direct payments, subsidies related to agri-environmental commitments and the education of farm manager tend to be key drivers of eco-efficiency. The implications of these findings are discussed within the literature on sustainable rural development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104001"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146190049","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}