{"title":"Integrated food policies in south-western France: Insights from local policy-making outside major urban areas","authors":"Isabelle Duvernoy , Françoise Jarrige , Amélie Gonçalves","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103489","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103489","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Acting on the rescaling of food systems for more sustainability calls for the deployment of integrated policies, i.e., consideration of the different dimensions of the food system, the different components and actors of the food chains, and the breakdown of the usual “silos” of policy-making. To encourage local food policies, the French government launched a national strategy that fosters the creation of territorial food projects, referred to as <em>Projets Alimentaires Territoriaux</em> (PATs). This study analyses how local authorities outside major urban areas in France attempt to shape integrated food policies through the building of PATs. We based our research on five case studies in south-western France (52 semi-structured interviews and document analysis). Our results first show how these local policies are linked to the national ones and how they are shaped by the combination of local context and national policy requirements. They also show which parts of the local food system are addressed by the actions of local policies, revealing a focus on production and school catering supply. Third, we observe the governance of these policies and show the pivotal work of the local authorities to bring together a variety of stakeholders with an emphasis on agricultural institutions. Despite a perfectible level of integration, these local food policies show the local authorities’ determination to get actively involved in food issues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103489"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131584","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":"The impact of “artificial wool” on the New Zealand wool industry: Lessons for future substitution transitions in the agricultural sector","authors":"Rob J.F. Burton , Hugh Campbell","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103578","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103578","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biotechnology promises a technological solution to the development of sustainable food systems – not by making practices in contemporary agriculture more sustainable, but by completely replacing large sections of the food and fibre value chain. Historical examples illustrate how substitution technologies can be devastating for the agricultural sector (e.g., alizarin and indigotin dyes), but also how they can have vastly differing and complex outcomes (e.g., margarine and vanillin). In arguing for a need for a greater understanding of substitution transitions, we investigate the impact of cellulose-based artificial fibres (rayon) on New Zealand's wool industry between 1910 and 1955. Using a publicly available database of New Zealand newspapers the study constructs the history of events from reports at the time and, importantly, analyses the response of the wool growing industry to the emerging threat of product substitution. We identify price fluctuations in agriculture that favoured artificial fibre production, a failure of the wool industry to appreciate the new industrial attributes of artificial fibres, the structuring effects of surrounding wars, and the presence of narratives of non-response as having significant influences over the substitution. To illustrate the utility of the findings, we draw conclusions concerning how substitutions might develop in the future, focusing on the case of cultivated animal proteins.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103578"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131587","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}
Rachel V. Herron , Breanna C. Lawrence , Nancy E.G. Newall , Doug Ramsey
{"title":"Older adults’ resilience in rural places: Explaining the role of place, time, and social connection during COVID-19","authors":"Rachel V. Herron , Breanna C. Lawrence , Nancy E.G. Newall , Doug Ramsey","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103579","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103579","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Older adults and their communities can be resilient, yet deficit-based portrayals of older adults living in rural communities remain common in research and public discourses. Drawing from contemporary research on aging, rural communities, and social connection, we explored rural older adults' resources and resilience processes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This longitudinal, case study research included 66 qualitative interviews with 22 older adults at three different points in time between May 2020 and June 2021 in rural Manitoba, Canada. Findings highlighted that even during this adverse time, many older adults experienced well-being in this study, demonstrating resilience. Explaining their experiences, participants described adopting new technologies and using long-established strategies to maintain important social relationships during periods of isolation. Participants social connections varied, with some experiencing lessening of loneliness over time. Some older adults resisted public health restrictions and developed their own mitigation strategies for safe gatherings while a loss of community spaces contributed to some participants' experiences of chronic loneliness and low levels of well-being. Purposeful community activities (especially volunteering), access to the outdoors, and access to essential community spaces (e.g., grocers and post-offices) were described as important strategies and resources at the local level. By describing rural older adults’ valued resources and resource gaps with attention to both place and time this study contributes to the growing body of research in relation to social connection and resilience and advances resilience theoretical approaches to the study of rural aging.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103579"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143445838","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}
Ling Li , Yuheng Li , Jiayi Shi , Xile Li , Huijuan Liu , Lin Zhu
{"title":"Unveiling the role of early child development in preventing poverty transmission in deep poverty-stricken areas of RuralChina","authors":"Ling Li , Yuheng Li , Jiayi Shi , Xile Li , Huijuan Liu , Lin Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103577","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103577","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Early child development (ECD) plays a crucial role in breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Based on an in-depth survey of 527 rural children aged 24–42 months from 26 remote and underdeveloped townships in southwestern China, this paper investigates early child development using the Bayley-III method and examines how socioeconomic status impacts ECD, with children's multidimensional poverty serving as a mediating factor. The research findings reveal that: (1) The development of the surveyed children is significantly delayed, especially in the social-emotional ability (76.7%) and cognitive ability (49.5%), followed by the language ability (39.3%) and motor ability (11.8%). (2) An overwhelming 97.3% of the surveyed children are identified as multidimensionally poor. (3) Living conditions, access to information, nutrition and health, and family education serve as mediating factors in the influence of the family socioeconomic status (SES) on ECD. The paper offers policy recommendations aimed at implementing interventions for deprived children to promote equitable ECD in rural areas of China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103577"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131137","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}
Xiao Cui , Eddie Chi Man Hui , Jianfu Shen , Xin Lin , Siyi Wang , Fang He
{"title":"Homestead withdrawal behaviour of rural migrants in China: The role of joint reform of hukou system and homestead system","authors":"Xiao Cui , Eddie Chi Man Hui , Jianfu Shen , Xin Lin , Siyi Wang , Fang He","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103526","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103526","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Promoting land withdrawal of rural migrants is of great significance to both sustainable urbanization and rural revitalization in developing countries. Urban migration policies and rural land system arrangements are crucial influencing factors, but their interactive relationship and effects on rural land withdrawal have yet to be well understood. Focusing on China's hukou system reform aiming at reducing migration restrictions and homestead system reform aiming at granting farmers formal land property rights, we employ PSM-DID models on nationwide data from the rural household survey conducted in 2015, 2017, and 2019 to examine the causal effects of the joint reform on homestead withdrawal. The results show that the joint reform of these two systems can more effectively encourage rural migrants to withdraw from homesteads. Their complementary relationship arises because hukou system reform reduces migrants' access restrictions on urban welfare and equal employment rights, thereby weakening their reliance on the homestead security function and strengthening the income effect of homestead withdrawal. Interestingly, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between hukou reform intensity and the change in this complementarity, indicating when homestead security is replaced by urban welfare, the higher expectations of future value and emotional attachment to homestead would reduce migrants' enthusiasm for homestead withdrawal. These findings highlight the necessity of simultaneously reducing migration restrictions and perfecting rural land property rights and propose specific implementation pathways for developing countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103526"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131496","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 politicisation of farm animal welfare through stability and change in public trust","authors":"Renate Marie Butli Hårstad","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103557","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103557","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The issue of farm animal welfare is gaining increased attention, new insights, and involvement from more stakeholders, alongside private initiatives aimed at its improvement. Changing public perceptions of animal welfare further pressures institutions responsible for its oversight. This trend of shifting animal welfare from expert-driven governance to a political issue illustrates its growing <em>politicisation</em>. Research indicates that politicisation processes can lead to <em>declining trust</em> and <em>increasing polarisation</em> across various areas. This study uses the theoretical lens of politicisation to explore how trust in farm animal welfare has evolved over time within Norwegian food production. Norway is a unique case, as surveys from 1997 to 2007 revealed some of the highest trust levels in responsible food and meat production across Europe. However, rationalisation in the agricultural sector, media scrutiny, and heightened activity from private actors are pressuring policymakers and the agricultural sector to maintain legitimacy amid demands to ‘deliver’ good animal welfare as a common interest. As the debate intensifies, this study examines 2020 survey data to evaluate Norway's position 13 years after the previous survey. The results reveal both change and stability in public trust regarding farm animal welfare. First, trust has declined, though primarily from high levels to greater uncertainty. Second, public trust differs by gender, education, place of residence, and political affiliation, but these differences have not increased since 2007—suggesting that polarisation has remained stable.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103557"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143132327","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}
Ana Novak, Živa Alif, Luka Juvančič, Tanja Šumrada
{"title":"What affects farmers' intention to learn about sustainability in online settings? An application of the extended theory of planned behaviour in Slovenia","authors":"Ana Novak, Živa Alif, Luka Juvančič, Tanja Šumrada","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103548","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103548","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The study uses the extended Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to explore farmers' participation in knowledge transfer activities and the potential of information and communication technology (ICT) based agricultural advisory services. Results based on Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and survey data of 4742 farmers who attended agri-environmental, organic farming or animal welfare training in Slovenia show that perceived behaviour control and attitudes were the most important factors influencing their intention to participate in future training. Satisfaction with the training, which was affected by the training content, design, and quality of the lecturer, had a further positive effect on the intention. We found that farmers who attended online sessions were less satisfied with the training than those participating in-person. Finally, online training was more likely attended by farmers who found it challenging to attend in-person due to lack of transportation options or time, and who had sufficient ICT knowledge, equipment and internet connection. Online sessions were also more often attended by older, female and part-time farmers. Our results emphasise the crucial role of offering advisory services adapted to the farmers' needs and preferences, as their satisfaction influences their attendance in training programs, which are often voluntary. Furthermore, the training design and implementation should take into account the needs of different groups of farmers, as the ICT-based advisory services may still not be evenly accessible to all farmers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103548"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131509","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}
Jianzhi Liu , Yangang Fang , Jiajun Qiao , Mark W. Rosenberg , Ruru Wang , Xiaoyue Liu , Shuhan Yu
{"title":"Rural transformation and the future of China's \"granary\": A perspective on livelihood trajectories","authors":"Jianzhi Liu , Yangang Fang , Jiajun Qiao , Mark W. Rosenberg , Ruru Wang , Xiaoyue Liu , Shuhan Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103524","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103524","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent research demonstrates that the core features of agricultural and rural transformation in grain-dependent areas of the newly industrializing countries in East and Southeast Asia do not fully align with classical theories and paradigms. However, there is a lack of a theoretical model that illustrates the general patterns of rural evolution and transformation in these areas during structural transformation and outlines their future trajectories. Through case studies of a well-known grain base in China, this paper explores this issue using an analytical framework consisting of the trajectory of agricultural transformation associated with rural residents' livelihood changes and the trajectory of rural community restructuring induced by these livelihood changes. The results show that, since structural transformation, the grain-dependent countryside of China has roughly undergone an evolution from a stage of relative isolation and self-sufficiency, marked by agricultural involution, to a stage of accelerating factor flows between cities and the countryside, marked by part-time livelihoods, and finally to the current stage of accumulating \"potential energies\" for rural restructuring, marked by population aging. Meanwhile, challenges to the further transformation of the countryside are rooted in the socioeconomic characteristics of the middle-income period, which underscores the significance of overcoming the middle-income trap. Finally, we propose theoretical patterns for the future trajectories of China's grain-dependent countryside through the scenario analysis based on overcoming the middle-income trap and discuss the implications for rural revitalization in these areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103524"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131531","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}
W.J. de Lange , F. van der Bank , M.E. Volscheck , T.E. Kleynhans
{"title":"Farmer competencies for successful farming in Sub-Sahara Africa","authors":"W.J. de Lange , F. van der Bank , M.E. Volscheck , T.E. Kleynhans","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103549","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103549","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Commercial farms have increased in physical size and the spectrum of managerial skills required to farm viably. The pivotal role of commercial farms as centres of rural development has spurred much research investigating the multiple factors contributing to successful farmers in developing countries. Given the limited control over socio-economic conditions and farm characteristics, understanding the individual factors that account for the success of farmers is of special interest. Studies on farmer success traditionally focused on demographic factors and technical/functional skills, with a growing concern for managerial capacity and decision-making. We contribute to this discussion by developing an integrative, behaviour-based competency model that cuts across different functional areas.</div><div>Critical incident interviews were conducted with a stratified sample of successful farmers (N = 48) across various agricultural industries to explore the behavioural competencies for long-term success in commercial agriculture in the rural context. By integrating primary interview data with current literature on farmer success and leadership models, we identified 12 key competencies for sustained successful farming which were clustered into five categories, namely creating the vision and strategic planning; monitoring and analysing information; collaborating and human resource capacity; character strengths; and commercial acumen and technical expertise. The result reveals that leadership attributes are on equal footing with the technical and economic attributes of successful farms. The study emphasises the importance of leadership competence as a vital component for growth and provides new insights into why so many farm development support schemes in developing economies fail even when abundant technical and economic assistance is provided.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103549"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131586","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":"Explaining farmers’ pro-environmental behaviors in rural China: A perspective of appraisal theory of emotions","authors":"Xudan Lin , Jie He , Hong Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103584","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103584","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rural development emphasizes the significance of environmental protection and green agriculture, but most studies focus on governmental actions and expert knowledge production. Mobilization at the local level in rural areas needs to be considered. To fill this research gap, according to the appraisal theory of emotions, we draw upon the related literature and develop a conceptual model that explains the relationships among farmers' place attachment, subjective well-being, and farmers' pro-environmental behaviors in the public and private spheres. Based on survey data from 423 farmers and interviews with 12 farmers from a rural area in China, the study expands the current conceptualization of cognition by incorporating a connection with place and emphasizing the place-related aspects of subjective well-being. The findings show that both place attachment and subjective well-being can effectively enhance farmers' pro-environmental behaviors. Also, subjective well-being has a significant mediating effect on the relationships between farmers’ place attachment and pro-environmental behaviors. The results also demonstrate the spillover effects between pro-environmental behaviors from the public to the private sphere. The implications for theory and practice are addressed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103584"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131136","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}