Journal of Rural Studies最新文献

{"title":"Valuing the view: Public preferences for aesthetic qualities of agricultural landscapes across Europe","authors":"Kato Van Ruymbeke , Alberto M. Zanni , Alastair Bailey , Sophia Davidova , Zoltan Bakucs , Erik Mathijs , Liesbet Vranken","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104037","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104037","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104037"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079842","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":"Climate-smart agriculture and the impact of financial incentives on adoption: an econometric analysis","authors":"Callum Alexander,&nbsp;Aiora Zabala,&nbsp;Andreas Kontoleon","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104035","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices is crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing resilience, and improving soil health in the U.S. agricultural sector. This study investigates the drivers of CSA adoption in U.S. farming, focusing on United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs between 2006 and 2023. Using a probit model, we evaluate the impact of state-level incentives, including crop insurance premium discounts and carbon trading schemes, and the role of climate-smart terminology. Results show that crop insurance discounts and carbon trading programs are associated with 4.3 and 6.9 percentage-point increases in adoption probability, respectively. The ‘climate-smart’ label is associated with slower adoption growth, particularly in politically conservative regions. Adoption likelihood is higher in states dominated by row and specialty crops, while larger farms show lower adoption likelihood. These findings emphasise the importance of financial incentives, regional variability, and synergistic policy framing in promoting CSA adoption within large-scale agricultural policy such as the Farm Bill in the U.S. and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the E.U.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104035"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079840","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":"Hidden hardship: everyday experiences, coping strategies, and barriers to wellbeing in rural britain","authors":"Stephanie Denning","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104025","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104025","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Poverty in the UK is more often associated in public discourse, the media, and in policy with urban than rural areas. With the exception of notable pieces in rural geographies, research across the social sciences has also focussed more on urban than rural poverty. This is mistaken: rural poverty is a significant problem too. This paper focusses on rural hardship in the Cotswolds in the UK which is an area associated with affluence, super-rich celebrities, and royalty. Through participatory research, this paper seeks to understand how people in the North Cotswolds experience hardship, their coping strategies, and the barriers to improved wellbeing. It argues that the North Cotswolds is an area of hidden hardship which means that the rural idyll needs challenging further in public and policy discourse, which research such as this can play a role in. In doing so, this paper's primary contribution is to have developed the conceptual language of hardship. This is significant for three main reasons. First, the paper argues that the language of hardship is more accessible methodologically, and secondly, that hardship can be a more encapsulating, holistic and multidimensional term than poverty. Thirdly, by using the theoretical lens of the philosopher Spinoza and his concepts of affect, affective capacity and conatus, the paper develops an original way of understanding hardship that results in the paper putting forward a definition of hardship as being about both struggle and resilience on an ongoing daily basis rather than about an emergency one-off situation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104025"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079777","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":"Exploring farmer sentiment and decision-making on circular agricultural practices adoption in Europe: Evidence from Italy, Norway and the UK","authors":"Ffion Evans ,&nbsp;James Gibbons ,&nbsp;Luciana Bava ,&nbsp;Dave Chadwick ,&nbsp;Stefania Colombini ,&nbsp;Valborg Kvakkestad ,&nbsp;Lampros Lamprinakis ,&nbsp;Vibeke Lind ,&nbsp;Martina Pavesi ,&nbsp;Prysor Williams ,&nbsp;Sophie Wynne-Jones","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104050","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104050","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Transitioning towards more circular farming systems, which prioritise using renewable and recycled resources to reduce reliance on external inputs, offers potential to improve nutrient cycling, enhance farm profitability and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. However, widespread adoption remains limited. To support the wider adoption of circular farming practices across diverse rural and agroecological settings, we examined how psychological, contextual and motivational factors shape farmers’ sentiment and decision-making. A mixed-methods approach—combining sentiment and thematic analysis—was applied to interviews and focus groups with 96 farmers and industry stakeholders across Italy, Norway and the UK. Sentiment towards circular farming practices varied across national contexts, with UK farmers expressing more positive views overall than Norwegian farmers, and Italian farmers positioned in between. These differences reflected how well practices aligned with existing knowledge, values and farming systems, while negative sentiment was primarily associated with policy impracticalities, investment costs and local constraints, highlighting key political and structural barriers to adoption. The findings underscore the need to align circular strategies with local contexts. To support wider adoption, we recommend (1) enhancing psychological capability (e.g. aligning practices with farmers’ knowledge): through a flexible ‘toolbox’ of practices; (2) addressing physical opportunity barriers via co-designed, locally-adapted policies; and (3) strengthening reflective motivation by communicating and deliberating the broader co-benefits of circular practices. These informed insights provide more effective and inclusive strategies for sustainable agriculture and rural development across Europe.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104050"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146079850","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":"Promoting rural revitalization in ethnic minority areas through characteristic plant industries: A comprehensive development framework from Yunnan with cross-regional comparative insights","authors":"Kongxi Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104012","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104012","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amid accelerating globalization and urbanization, ethnic minority areas worldwide confront multifaceted challenges including economic stagnation, ecological degradation, and cultural erosion. China's Rural Revitalization Strategy presents new developmental opportunities for these regions, where economic transformation approaches that promote ecological civilization have become crucial. However, existing research rarely constructs comprehensive frameworks that leverage characteristic plant industries to promote rural revitalization, and particularly lacks cross-regional comparative validation. This study addressed this gap by focusing on Yunnan Province—a region renowned for its exceptional plant diversity and rich ethnic composition. Through the integrated application of semi-structured interviews, Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA), and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), we developed and validated a comprehensive framework organized around six core themes: Commercial Crop Cultivation, Innovation and Development in Botanical Craftsmanship, Phyto-Food Processing, Medicinal Botany and Health Products, Indigenous Cultural Heritage and Ecotourism, and Community Economy and Agronomic Technology. The framework's robustness and transferability were systematically examined through comparative case studies in Chiang Mai (Thailand) and Oaxaca (Mexico), demonstrating its cross-cultural adaptability and scalability. Our findings revealed that successful revitalization requires the strategic integration of all six thematic dimensions, with Community Economy and Agronomic Technology identified as the most critical driver. This research provides both theoretical foundations and practical guidance for policymakers and communities in ethnic minority areas worldwide, offering a validated pathway toward sustainable, culturally-grounded, and economically viable rural development through characteristic plant industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104012"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146036418","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":"Social acceptance of agrivoltaics in Canada: Insights on public perceptions across technologies and provinces from a nationwide survey","authors":"Uzair Jamil ,&nbsp;Joshua M. Pearce","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104068","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104068","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Canada possesses significant potential to reduce fossil fuel dependence through agrivoltaics - systems that integrate agricultural production with solar photovoltaic energy generation. Previous agrivoltaic research has consistently demonstrated multiple benefits, including enhanced crop yields for a wide variety of food crops. Additionally, only 1% of Canada's agrivoltaic potential could eliminate the country's reliance on fossil fuel-based electricity. Despite this potential, agrivoltaic deployment remains limited due to regulatory, social, and informational barriers. Given that rural communities are central to both agriculture and renewable energy transitions, understanding public perceptions of agrivoltaics is critical for informed policy and implementation. This study investigates community attitudes toward agrivoltaics through a structured, nationwide survey addressing economic, environmental, and social dimensions of renewable energy acceptance. Results reveal that 85.8% of respondents support agrivoltaics, though preferences differed by configuration and province. Stilt-mounted agrivoltaics received the highest support at 92.6%, followed by greenhouse-integrated systems and solar grazing. Installations over perennial crops and trees were the least favored but still received over 80% approval. Regional differences were observed, with Nova Scotia (95.6%), Manitoba (93.0%), and British Columbia (92.9%) showing the strongest support and Yukon the lowest. Opposition primarily stemmed from resistance to change, aesthetic concerns, and land use issues, often linked to misinformation or lack of awareness. These findings underscore the importance of targeted education and outreach to promote agrivoltaic adoption and inform rural energy policy in support of Canada's sustainable energy transition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104068"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147420725","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":"Trusted brokers in farmland markets: A case study in rural Scotland","authors":"Yumi Kato Isaka ,&nbsp;Guy Garrod ,&nbsp;Carmen Hubbard","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104075","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104075","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores how social networks and government institutions work in farmland markets, with a special focus on the role of brokers. For this purpose, New Economic Sociology (NES) is applied and compared to New Institutional Economics (NIE) to build a theoretical framework, and a Social Network Analysis is adopted to case studies. Two Parish case studies were conducted in Scotland, where dynamic land pattern changes can be observed. It allowed for the comparison of one parish dominated by tenancies in the land market with private agents involved, with another parish where a joint venture unfolds. After the entire land market network for each parish was identified, the connections between actors were traced through in-depth interviews. The paper examines the role of trust in farmland markets embedded in informal social networks which consist of varieties of actors (e.g., tenant, private agents, landowner and business partner). Results highlight how trust as social capital works in land transactions, in addition to the economic impacts (e.g., price, rent and transaction costs). The findings support the NES theory and suggests the importance of trust in designing governmental schemes that could support and encourage the development of farmland markets in the future.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104075"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147420767","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":"Beyond metrics: Corporate governance and the reordering of rural power in regenerative agriculture","authors":"Jorge Fernandez-Vidal ,&nbsp;Silverio Alarcon","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104081","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104081","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Corporate regenerative agriculture programs are transforming the governance of sustainability in rural areas. Through contracts, incentive schemes, and monitoring systems, agrifood corporations now influence farming practices that were once guided by public institutions or local knowledge. While these initiatives claim to promote ecological regeneration, they also redefine how power, trust, and responsibility are distributed across the countryside.</div><div>Drawing on comparative analysis of forty-five corporate regenerative agriculture programs and thirty-four interviews with farmers, agronomists, and sustainability managers, this study examines how these programs are designed and governed, and how they affect rural autonomy and legitimacy. The analysis identifies four main governance logics: compliance, experimentation, partnership, and branding. Each reflects a different balance between corporate control and farmer participation, from audit-driven oversight to collaborative learning.</div><div>The findings show that compliance and branding-driven models often strengthen corporate authority while offering only symbolic participation. In contrast, partnership and experimentation models allow limited spaces for negotiation and trust-building. Across all cases, the alignment between corporate timelines and the slower rhythms of ecological and social change determines whether regenerative transitions deliver real transformation or remain performative.</div><div>By viewing regenerative agriculture as a form of rural governance reordering, the paper connects institutional design with questions of justice, autonomy, and legitimacy. It argues that the success of regeneration depends not only on ecological practices but on how democratic and inclusive the governance structures behind them become.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104081"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421277","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":"Spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of ecosystem services and their trade-offs/synergies in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area in the post-Three Gorges era","authors":"Yeqing Tang ,&nbsp;Yuanqing Li ,&nbsp;Yizhuo Liu ,&nbsp;Jiachang Zhang ,&nbsp;Lulu Zhou ,&nbsp;Yahui Wang ,&nbsp;Qingyuan Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104070","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104070","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Changes on trade-offs/synergies between ecosystem services (ESs) of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) directly impact the ecological security of the Yangtze River Basin. This paper selected the 15-year period from 2005 to 2020 before and after the post-Three Gorges era, and adopted the research methods of the InVEST model and correlation analysis to quantitatively analyze the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of three ESs, including water supply (WS), soil conservation (SC), and carbon storage (CS) in the TGRA. Additionally, the trade-offs and synergies among these ESs at the watershed and sub-watershed scales were analyzed and spatially visualized to reveal their dynamic changes during the post-Three Gorges era. The results were shown as follows: (1) The values of the three ESs all increased from 2005 to 2020, WS, CS, and SC increased by 184 mm, 0.136 t, and 5344.883 t, respectively. Among them, the values of these ESs in the post-Three Gorges era were greater than those during the pre-2010 period. (2) The ESs in the TGRA exhibited distinct spatial differentiation characteristics. There were spatial similarities in the evolution pattern of various ESs in two periods. (3) The correlation between the ESs had increased in the post-Three Gorges era. At the entire watershed scale, CS-SC mainly presented a significant synergistic relationship, while trade-off relationships were presented WS-CS and WS-SC. These results offer scientific guidance for developing differentiated and refined ecological management strategies for large-scale water conservancy projects worldwide.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104070"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421278","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":"Small wins through adaptation governance: Vulnerability, producer organizations, and climate-smart interventions","authors":"Kushankur Dey ,&nbsp;Kriti Bardhan Gupta","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104067","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104067","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A proactive approach to adaptation has emerged as a key interface between policy and community in tackling localized climate change challenges in the Global South. The framework addresses the shortcomings of the reactive approach of limited action and underpins the agency's role in adapting to place-based climate-hazard-induced vulnerability. However, the role of agencies and their governance capabilities in generating adaptation outcomes, influenced by actor power dynamics, remains unclear and underexplored in climate action literature. To bridge the gap, we ask two research questions: (1) how can agency-led adaptation governance demonstrate small-scale yet impactful outcomes in climate-vulnerable settings? (2) How can adaptation outcomes be accumulated to bring about systemic change in climate (action) policy? We draw on Termeer and Metze's (2019) Small Wins Governance framework to develop a contingency framework for agency-led adaptation governance. We employ a mixed-methods approach to operationalize the framework. The findings show that farmer-producer organizations, acting as agents for their members, collectively implement climate-smart interventions to achieve small wins in India's Himalayan region, namely increased farmer incomes and crop productivity, and farming system resilience. The propelling mechanisms signal the capacity of small wins to drive systemic change in farm-level adaptation. However, we have yet to observe this at the landscape level due to political tensions, a lack of adaptation funds, and limited climate risk mitigation and infrastructure. The study offers actionable insights into climate (action) policy by explicating climate hazards-induced vulnerability, and the role of agencies and their governance capabilities in locally led adaptation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104067"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421281","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}