Journal of Rural Studies最新文献

{"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}

{"title":"Valuing the view: Public preferences for aesthetic qualities of agricultural landscapes across Europe","authors":"Kato Van Ruymbeke ,&nbsp;Alberto M. Zanni ,&nbsp;Alastair Bailey ,&nbsp;Sophia Davidova ,&nbsp;Zoltan Bakucs ,&nbsp;Erik Mathijs ,&nbsp;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}