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► Journal BrowserSpecial Issue "Challenges to Sustainable Development in Family Farms: Global and Local Context"
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.
Special Issue Editors
Interests: sustainable development economics, environmental economics, and agricultural economics concerning inter alia public goods, eco-efficiency, political rents, spatial effects, and input–output analyses
Interests: agricultural markets; sustainable development; small farms sector; risk management in agriculture
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In 2019, FAO initiated a new program called ‘Family Decade 2019–2028—United Nations Decade of Family Farming’ (FAO 2019). This is a sign that the issues of the family farms sector will be the topic in the academic and public debate over the coming years. The premise for such thinking is the fact that family farms continue to be the primary source of food supply in both developed and developing countries. In addition, due to their multifunctional nature, they provide specific public goods for which public demand is growing. However, family farms face many socioeconomic and environmental problems, such as relatively low incomes and productivity of inputs, vulnerability to climate change or lack of succession that may hinder sustainable development of these farms. Furthermore, the problems of the family farming sector often have a peculiar character regarding different countries and world regions. Understanding this diversity, as well as individual points of view of family farming issues, is a particular contribution to the theory of agricultural economics and closes the gap in this regard.
This Special Issue of Sustainability is dedicated to all those whose area of interest includes issues of family farming and sustainable rural development. The aim is to publish high-quality research papers on the problems of family farms and the supporting policy from an economic, social, and environmental point of view. We invite articles containing international and interregional comparisons as well as more in-depth analysis of specific regions. Review articles are also welcome.
Prof. Dr. Bazyli Czyżewski
Dr. Sebastian Stępień
Dr. Łukasz Krysza
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- family farm
- sustainable development
- small-scale farming
- climate change
- agricultural incomes
- social aspects
- environmental issues
- agricultural policy
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Authors: Anthony M. Fuller; Lee-Ann Sutherland; Xu Siyuan
Abstract:
This paper on family farms is in the form of an historical review complemented by current and future perspectives from Canada, China and Europe. In the selected literature review, multiple discourses on concepts and methodologies are examined to form many understandings of the family farm. The point is that family farms, however defined, are ubiquitous in most agricultural systems and take on many different forms and functions, mostly conditioned by the structure of agriculture in different locations and political systems. Our review therefore accepts this diversity and seeks to identify some key elements that inform our understanding of family farming, now and in the future. The term ‘family’ is the differentiating variable and behooves a sociological approach. However, economists can view the family farm as an economic unit, a business and even a firm. Geographers see family farms consigned to the margins of good land areas and political scientists have seen family farms as a class. Family farms appear in the agrarian structure of most agricultural systems and are often equated with peasant holdings, while families can also run large commercial farms with substantial capital resources. As with the term livelihoods (everybody has one), the term ‘family farm’ has common usage within its own spatial and historical context. However, as a concept for comparative research, it is problematic. In reviewing selected discourses on family farms, this paper attempts to answer the question of the usefulness of the term for policy and planning research.