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Despite commonalities, the development of a broad range of approaches to rural development has sometimes produced hermetic language and values which is exacerbated by siloed scientific orientations. In this article, we provide a critical analysis of three popular approaches to rural development among Global North rural researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers: the community-based approach, the place-based approach, and the territorial approach. By locating the disciplinary origins and pragmatic boundaries of each approach as well as the interfaces between them, we argue that working across a potential conceptual nexus could foster collaboration among policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers alike. Our analysis points to shared interests in issues of governance, actors agency and geographical embeddedness; it highlights a shared emphasis on rural defined interests. We conclude future rural development research and practice could be rejuvenated by working at the nexus of these interfaces to achieve the goals of contemporary rural development initiatives.

In urban-influenced areas, farmers face new opportunities and constraints that shape their farming styles. In this article, we investigate the impact of two planning strategies, Ontario’s Greenbelt, Canada, and Toulouse InterSCoT, France, on farmers’ investment and discuss the consistency of farmers’ strategies and territorial projects. A theoretical approach centered on J.R. Commons’ concept of Futurity is operationalized with mental modeling during 41 in-depth interviews with farmers. The results show that farming styles, which reflect farmers’ adaptation to their urban-influenced environment, stem in both jurisdictions from farmers’ values, attitudes, skills, and norms. The differences in investment decisions revealed in the respective planning strategies highlight that Ontario’s Greenbelt zoning is not sufficient to preserve urban-influenced farming, while in Toulouse InterSCoT, the viability of farmers’ projects depends on the alignment of farmers and other agricultural stakeholders’ representations of agriculture. The shared territorial vision of the agricultural landscape stemming from such an alignment may help mitigate potential conflicts while supporting farmers’ projects that contribute to this vision. The importance of a shared vision of the future supporting multifunctional agriculture emerged in both jurisdictions.

Peri-urban agriculture can foster the resilience of metropolitan areas through the provision of local food and other multifunctional agricultural amenities and externalities. However, in peri-urban areas, farming is characterized by strong social uncertainties, which slow the intergenerational transfer of farm operations. In this article, we tackle the beliefs that underlie farmers' decision-making to identify planning opportunities that may support farm intergenerational transfers. The design of an institutionalist conceptual framework based on Keynesian uncertainty and Commonsian Futurity aims to analyze farmers' beliefs associated with farm intergenerational transfer dynamics. The dataset of this comparative analysis includes 41 interviews with farmers involved in animal, cash-crop, and horticulture farming in the urban-influenced Ontario's Greenbelt, Canada, and Toulouse InterSCoT, France, during which farmers designed a mental model of their investment decision-making. The results highlight the dominance of a capital-intensive farm model framed by a money-land-market nexus that slows farm structural change. The subsequent access inequalities, which are based on characteristics of farmers and their farm projects, support the idea of the existence of an agricultural intersectionality. The results also highlight the positive role of the institutional context; when farmers' beliefs are well-aligned with the beliefs that shape their institutional environment, the frictions that slow farm structural change in peri-urban areas are moderated by a shared vision of the future.

Purpose This paper aims to explore individuals’ economic empowerment and political empowerment association and the moderation role of entrepreneurship development programs on this relationship in the context of post-revolution Tunisia, which is a newer developing democracy. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a quantitative approach based on econometric modeling. A questionnaire was designed and administrated to a stratified random sample of 343 participants in the Entrepreneurship for the Participation and Inclusion of Vulnerable Youth in Tunisia program, funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund and implemented in rural northwestern Tunisia between 2017 and 2021. A coarsened exact matching method is also applied for robustness analysis. Findings The analysis shows that when individuals have enhanced economic decision-making agency and are involved in economic networks, they are more likely to demonstrate higher political empowerment. It also shows that expanding rural individuals’ economic opportunities by providing entrepreneurial resources, such as entrepreneurial training and microcredit, strengthens individuals’ economic empowerment and political empowerment association. Practical implications The study provides practical implications for policymakers in newer developing democracies. Citizens’ political empowerment and inclusion in rural areas could be promoted by developing entrepreneurship development programs, which could help reinforce the citizens-state relationship and establish more stable social contracts. The research also provides practical implications for the international development community, donor agencies and program designers through duplicating similar programs in other countries with weak central government structures (i.e. post-conflict environments, post-revolution). Originality/value The research attempts to contribute to the ongoing debates linking entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and political/citizen empowerment. It focuses on a Middle East and North Africa country, Tunisia, characterized by socioeconomic issues and low civic participation.

Farm size in industrialized countries grew significantly over the second half of the twentieth century. Using several econometric models, this article examines factors that influence farm size, the probability of an increase in farm size, and the intensity of farm growth. We find that farm structural characteristics, farmer's age, the existence of a successor, and spatial factors approximating urban influences have a significant impact on farm size, whereas human capital variables do not. This study considers a representative sample of 5,000 professional farms in the Midi-Pyrénées region between 2000 and 2007.

Despite commonalities, the development of a broad range of approaches to rural development has sometimes produced hermetic language and values which is exacerbated by siloed scientific orientations. In this article, we provide a critical analysis of three popular approaches to rural development among Global North rural researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers: the community-based approach, the place-based approach, and the territorial approach. By locating the disciplinary origins and pragmatic boundaries of each approach as well as the interfaces between them, we argue that working across a potential conceptual nexus could foster collaboration among policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers alike. Our analysis points to shared interests in issues of governance, actors agency and geographical embeddedness; it highlights a shared emphasis on rural defined interests. We conclude future rural development research and practice could be rejuvenated by working at the nexus of these interfaces to achieve the goals of contemporary rural development initiatives.

CONTEXT The fast acceleration of climate changes contrasts strikingly with the slow implementation of any globally-coordinated mitigation response to climate threats. In many countries, the current priority is to maintain food production and avoid food crises through the adaptation of vulnerable agricultural systems. In this context, the introduction in crop rotations of hardy crops such as sunflower, which are more tolerant to droughts and more resistant to pests, has the potential to harness solutions based on ecosystem services instead of synthetic input. OBJECTIVE This article tackles the issue of farmers' varietal innovation development and adoption with the intent to highlight pathways for more resilient and sustainable agricultural systems. In particular, it explores the governance of the French sunflower varietal innovation system to assess its legitimacy. The objectives are therefore (1) to provide a relevant institutionalist framework based on the concepts of governance and legitimacy, and (2) to discuss opportunities to unlock the current situation that sees varietal innovation not entirely responding to the needs of farmers. METHODS The analysis relies on 37 semi-structured interviews with farmers, representatives of seed companies and seed distributors, as well as scientific experts in Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the two regions leading sunflower production in France. The interviews explored sunflower strengths and weaknesses, sunflower genetic traits sought by farmers, the adoption and diffusion of sunflower varieties, and the impacts and perceptions of both public policies and climate changes. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Results show that the current lack of governance legitimacy of the French varietal innovation system is counterbalanced by the critical role of seed distributors representatives who contribute to maintaining trust. In order to improve the effectiveness of climate changes adaptation efforts, the normative legitimacy of the current va

In urban-influenced areas, farmers face new opportunities and constraints that shape their farming styles. In this article, we investigate the impact of two planning strategies, Ontario's Greenbelt, Canada, and Toulouse InterSCoT, France, on farmers' investment and discuss the consistency of farmers' strategies and territorial projects. A theoretical approach centered on J.R. Commons' concept of Futurity is operationalized with mental modeling during 41 in-depth interviews with farmers. The results show that farming styles, which reflect farmers' adaptation to their urban-influenced environment, stem in both jurisdictions from farmers' values, attitudes, skills, and norms. The differences in investment decisions revealed in the respective planning strategies highlight that Ontario's Greenbelt zoning is not sufficient to preserve urban-influenced farming, while in Toulouse InterSCoT, the viability of farmers' projects depends on the alignment of farmers and other agricultural stakeholders' representations of agriculture. The shared territorial vision of the agricultural landscape stemming from such an alignment may help mitigate potential conflicts while supporting farmers' projects that contribute to this vision. The importance of a shared vision of the future supporting multifunctional agriculture emerged in both jurisdictions.