Journal of Rural Studies最新文献

{"title":"The online portrayal of urban farmers: Professionals’ perspectives on their influence on constructing farming-career paths","authors":"İlkay Unay-Gailhard ,&nbsp;Robert J. Chaskin ,&nbsp;Mark A. Brennan","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103586","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103586","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research extends existing studies on the role of alternative food movements in supporting new farmers. It focuses on the urban agriculture movement, particularly the online portrayal of urban farmers in social media, and its impact on constructing farming-career paths. Analyses explore the perspectives of professionals (N = 32) involved in urban farming initiatives (practitioners, policy professionals, and beginning urban farmers) in Pennsylvania and Illinois. The study uses qualitative thematic coding and aggregates the theoretical dimensions supported by contemporary career theories. Career aspiration, career intention, and career orientation are the career-construction paths that are the interests of the study. Findings suggest that portrayals of urban farmers are multi-faced: \"<em>smallness</em>,\" \"<em>diversity</em>,\" \"<em>guidance by moral values</em>,\" \"<em>innovativeness</em>,\" and \"<em>popularity</em>\" are the essential themes explaining farming-career aspirations. Farming-career exposure and career experiments via social media are values that drive planned or unplanned career intentions. The portrayal of urban farmers as moral achievers is perceived as a motivator in career orientation by activating relationally driven (inspirations gathered from online relationships) and protean (self-driven) attitudes. Overall, our study demonstrated that online portrayals of urban farmers can shape perceptions about careers within sustainable sectors, including agriculture-related professions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103586"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143305158","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":"Peri-urban agriculture and food platformisation: Opportunities and challenges","authors":"Valentina Cattivelli ,&nbsp;Salvatore Pinna","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103568","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103568","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper offers a theoretical contribution by outlining both the opportunities and the challenges of food platformisation for peri-urban agriculture. The growing platformisation of the food sector is drastically transforming how food is produced, distributed, and consumed at the local level. Such transformations also impact agricultural practices in peri-urban areas. Specifically, they influence planning decisions related to urban sprawl, land consumption and environmental challenges, with a focus on sustainable practices. They also create several risks, including the marginalisation of small producers, the concentration of power in the hands of a small number of actors, and the homogenisation of agricultural practices.</div><div>Following a critical analysis of the current literature, the paper lists the possible effects of these changes and discusses potential pathways for addressing them with a series of suggestions. Its conclusions reorient the debate towards possible avenues to ensure that peri-urban agriculture can thrive in the era of platformisation and contribute to the transition towards a more equitable and resilient food system. They also outline the possible upward trajectory of food platformisation, recognising the consumer-centric opportunities it generates while also underscoring its consequential impacts on logistical operations and territorial planning decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103568"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143305432","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 agroecology versus organics: Alternative farmer subgroups in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina","authors":"Isaac Sohn Leslie","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103587","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103587","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Alternative farmers vary widely in their social and environmental practices, yet scholars and practitioners tend to portray alternative farmers as either a single group or dualistically divided between “big organics” and the radical rest (“agroecology” in Argentina). Through observation and 50 interviews, I trace the economic and social networks of alternative farmers in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and find six subgroups: export organics, local organics, solidarity agroecology, unionized agroecology, extensive agroecology, and biodynamic agroecology. I argue that farmers' socioeconomic power and privilege mark the fault lines between subgroups and systematically affect farmers’ pathways into alternative agriculture, scale, crops grown, prioritization of labor, and relationship with the state. For alternative agriculture to realize its potential for environmental and social change, it must address the social and economic inequities among its farmers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103587"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143305159","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 role of self-monitoring in shifting the cultural acceptability of agri-environmental actions","authors":"Hannah Chiswell","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103590","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103590","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Defined as any activity where farmers are responsible for documenting and/or reporting on a particular indicator, self-monitoring confers a number of advantages, including the potential to increase the cultural acceptance and value of agri-environment work. Despite this enthusiasm towards the concept, there has been scant empirical research into its application and a failure to appropriately measure its contribution to the cultural acceptability of agri-environment behaviours. Given the widely documented failure of agri-environment schemes to engender a sustainable shift in farmer behaviour, an empirical assessment of self-monitoring is therefore both timely and significant. Drawing on 34 semi-structured interviews with farmers, land managers and allied professionals in England, this paper explores whether, by fulfilling the Basic Psychological Needs (BPN) of <em>autonomy</em>, <em>competence</em> and <em>relatedness</em>, self-monitoring could be an effective way to make agri-environment work and outcomes more appealing and sustainable within the farming community. The data affirms that self-monitoring has potential to fulfil the BPNs by (i) offering farmers a sense of ownership over their monitoring, (ii) equipping farmers with monitoring skills to enable them to recognise and value their effectiveness in producing environmental outcomes, and (iii) offering farmers a new way to feel and express connection to others in the farming community. I demonstrate how self-monitoring is capable of transitioning the way agri-environment work is perceived – from one of external regulation to one of an increasingly autonomous form of motivation (which is associated with greater performance and persistence). I also showcase the use of BPN in the agri-environment field. Having demonstrated the potential of self-monitoring to improve the cultural acceptability of agri-environment work, I appeal for further interdisciplinary research to follow-up with these initial findings; only then can the benefits of self-monitoring be fully realised in agri-environment policy design in the UK, Europe and beyond.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103590"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143183289","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":"Historical transitions of seed breeding in China: From socialist cooperation to joint research","authors":"Siyuan Xu ,&nbsp;Cong Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103592","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103592","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Seed marketization has unfolded in China for over two decades. Despite achievements in market value, institutional establishments and the variety right approval, China's breeding capacities have been undermined by increasing challenges in innovation and sustainability. To answer the question of whether state-sanctioned innovation programs could eventually strengthen the nation's breeding capacities, this paper reviews the historical transformations of seed breeding in China, drawing on extensive interviews and analysis of policy documents. It shows that the issues with seed breeding caused largely by marketization cannot be resolved by joint research between public and private breeders in the market environment. Various forms of collaboration based on the free exchanges of breeding knowledge and materials might be helpful pathways for China and developing countries in general in the improvement of breeding capacities and the protection of seed sovereignty.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103592"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143305430","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 structure of ageing in Swiss agriculture","authors":"Alexander Zorn","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103574","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103574","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Farm managers on average are getting older. This demographic development represents a challenge for the sector that is additional to or even exacerbates other factors including low profitability and the impact of climate change. This study disentangles ageing by looking at the development of key components. These are the age of a person handing over the farm, the age of new and exiting farmers as well as entry and exit rates. The descriptive analysis of the demographic development in Swiss agriculture during the period 2004–2020 is based on data from public administration of direct payments. The increase in the average age of farm managers in Switzerland is explained by increasingly older farm managers who hand over or give up the farm. The age of farm successors and new entrants is increasing slightly. Increasing rates of farmer managers leaving farming together with decreasing shares of new entrants into farming further contribute to increasing the average age of farmers. The analysis also shows that handing over the farm to someone not much younger, usually the female partner, also contributes to ageing. The ratio of old to young farmers increases sharply from 1.8 to 2.7. Swiss agriculture such as the European agricultural sector faces a high number of pending farm transfers in the years to come. The higher participation of younger farm managers in environmental and animal welfare programs opens up the possibility for agricultural policy to align farms with the objectives of the transformation in the course of the handover. The results are relevant for the management of structural change in agriculture and in particular for the design of support for young farmers. The results highlight the effects of age-specific direct payment policies, in particular Switzerland's unique rule of stopping payments at age 65, on farm transitions. Insights from the Swiss case provide broader lessons for the design of agricultural policies in Europe and beyond, offering strategies to address ageing farm populations, promote generational renewal, and support the transformation of food systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103574"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143183262","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":"Banditry as rural crime?","authors":"Sara T. Thompson","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103593","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103593","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nigeria has garnered international attention for the increase in bandit attacks over the past decade. Thousands of Nigerians have died, and many more have been displaced due to bandit attacks. Exploring bandit attacks through spatial exploration and analysis helps to identify where the problem is occurring. Historically, banditry has occurred in rural areas. To understand the current problem of banditry, this paper identifies rural areas in Nigeria through calculating the population density of Local Government Authorities. The location quotient of specific types of bandit attacks is also calculated and presented to identify specific areas that experience frequent types of bandit attacks. Spatial components of rurality and banditry in Nigeria are explored in greater detail. This approach helps to identify problem areas which can provide information about certain situational components and other factors present in rural areas that could be facilitating bandit attacks. This paper concludes with recommendations for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103593"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143183290","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":"Intermediate levels of socio-ecological disturbance drive higher biodiversity in naturally regenerating forests: A case study from Nepal","authors":"Nicola McGunnigle ,&nbsp;Douglas Bardsley ,&nbsp;Ian Nuberg ,&nbsp;Edwin Cedamon ,&nbsp;Bishnu Hari Pandit","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103582","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2025.103582","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Farmers in the middle hills of Nepal have been abandoning agricultural land over the last three decades due to complex socio-ecological drivers and dynamics. A consequence of this shift is the succession of forest. Naturally regenerating tree species, and farmers’ opinions of species benefits, were assessed with field measurements and interviews to guide an analysis of the socio-ecological factors that influence forest succession. Non-linear patterns of species abundance and diversity suggest that intermediate levels of disturbance lead to higher rates of biodiversity than either high or low management interventions within regenerating forest patches. Farmers that practice no or low levels of disturbance exhibit little investment or perceived benefits from their land beyond occasional fodder collection, while high forest disturbance is motivated primarily by activities within the succeeding forest that generate income. Intermediate disturbance patterns in succeeding forests mimic traditional farming practices in Nepal, utilising trees within the mosaic landscape for livelihood purposes. The local heterogenic agro-ecosystems are also associated with higher species diversity. Policy to support the maintenance or enhancement of forest succession on formerly cultivated cropland could contribute to higher species diversity and build adaptive capacity of rural households during landscape transitions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"115 ","pages":"Article 103582"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143183291","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":"Barriers and opportunities for creative non-fiction storytelling in agriculture research extension","authors":"Michael Thomson ,&nbsp;Amy Cosby ,&nbsp;Bobby Harreveld","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103547","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103547","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Australian agriculture research and development agencies use extension and communication programs to maximise adoption of new technologies and practices by farmers. This paper explores the potential of creative non-fiction (CNF) storytelling techniques, which have proved effective in other industries but are not widely utilised in agriculture. Semi-structured interviews with 14 agriculture extension practitioners and research communicators from across Australia revealed a belief that inclusion of CNF storytelling techniques in their practices would enhance farmer adoption of new technologies and practices and could be applied in a wide range of situations. However, they identified barriers preventing the technique being used including cultural norms which prefer objective information over subjective or creative expression of knowledge and experiences. Using thematic analysis of the interview transcripts, interpreted through the lens of social cognitive theory, this paper presents a conceptual model to demonstrate the potential of CNF to stimulate internal mental and external physical embodiment of ideas and the flow-on socialisation of this knowledge.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103547"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131497","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":"Domestic and international migration, landownership, and rice farming in Cambodia","authors":"Phanwin Yokying","doi":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103532","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103532","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Migration is a dominant survival strategy among rice-farming households in Cambodia. Using Cambodia's Feed the Future data, this paper examines how rice production, sales, and income are associated with domestic and international migration, and how such relationships vary by agricultural land size. The results indicate that withdrawal of household farm labor due to domestic migration is negatively correlated with rice production, especially among households that do not own land. As farmer-owned agricultural land size increases, however, domestic migration becomes positively correlated with rice production, sales, and income. In contrast, international migration exhibits no significant correlation with the outcomes, irrespective of farm size. The findings underscore the critical role of migration destination and land size in shaping rice cultivation, suggesting that policies promoting secure farmland ownership could help counteract the decline in rice production associated with domestic migration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Rural Studies","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 103532"},"PeriodicalIF":5.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143131514","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}