Rural Policy, Governance and Sustainable Rural Development

Dear Colleagues,

Recent documents concerning rural development (Green Deal, From Farm to Fork Strategy, CAP 2023–2027) have depicted an innovative scenario to address sustainable rural development by calling for new place-based approaches to support agricultural transition and more resilient development of agriculture in rural areas. As emphasized in the long-term vision for rural areas, diversified trajectories may characterize future development of rural contexts, depending on the different variables to be taken into account. From a theoretical point of view, the analysis of sustainable rural development is influenced by multiple interrelated dimensions making up the so-called “rural web” (Marsden, van der Ploeg, 2008), such as the capability of exploiting endogenous resources, the relevance of social capital and collective action, new approaches to innovation based on novelties, market governance and new institutional arrangements. Against this background, dramatic change affects the evolution of the agrifood systems, which can be synthesized by three keywords, as identified by Klerkx (2020):

• Transformation and transition towards more agroecological systems, grounded on sustainable farming upgrading resilience capability;
• Disruption of previous agricultural models replaced by new “disruptive” technologies (for instance, digitalization), bringing about new visions of innovation in farming activities and rural areas;
• Plurality of agricultural worlds and diversified paths of rural development.

As a consequence, more reflexive and disruptive rural governance may emerge, drawing on multiple actors and multiple levels of perspectives. How to shape future rural systems to obtain a safe operating space is becoming a key question for researchers and policy makers. Knowledge and innovation are identified as priority tools to facilitate the transition. New networks of actors from science, business, civil society, and government co-produce technological, social, and institutional innovations that co-shape these future agricultural and rural systems. More specifically, more complex Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) seem able to facilitate the transition.

The Special Issue aims to explore the complexity of rural evolution, the role of rural policies in addressing rural change and the capability of agriculture to tackle agroecological transition, with the goal of supporting more resilient farming systems.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• The role rural policies as tool to support sustainable rural development Green Deal, From Farm to Fork, CAP 2023–2027:
• Agroecological transition
• Rural and agricultural resilience
• Smart rural areas
• Multifunctional agriculture
• Rural entrepreneurship
• Networks and rural stakeholders’ evolution

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Teresa Del Giudice
Prof. Dr. Marcello De Rosa
Dr. Yari Vecchio
Collection Editors

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