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Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2023) | Viewed by 25206

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Dr. Artiom Volkov

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Guest Editor

Institute of Economics and Rural Development, Lithuanian Social Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
Interests: agriculture; common agricultural policy; resilience; sustainability; sustainable development; MCDM; subsidies; direct payments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Mangirdas Morkunas

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
Interests: socioeconomic resilience and sustainability of rural regions; performance management; consumer behavior; development of business in unfavorable conditions; shadow economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable agriculture is indisputably one of the main goals of various Governments. However, the balance between green ambitions and production levels is debatable. Agricultural sector assures food security, provides decent jobs in rural regions, maintains biodiversity, assures proper landscape management practices, slower rural-urban migration and etc. Its importance has been reassessed during the disruptions to various food supply chains caused by Covid-19 pandemic.

The paradigm of sustainable development, the Green Deal, a strong agri-environmental ambition open up opportunities and challenges for agriculture and rural vitality, resilience and competitiveness of the agricultural sector. The smooth transformation of the sector is difficult to imagine without government intervention. Governments all over the world have implemented various support measures in order to assure sustainable operations of agricultural sectors. This included not only administrative, legal or social but the financial incentives too. Although there is significant scientific evidence about the negative effects various types of subsidies have on the development paths of numerous economic sectors including agriculture. The proper balancing between positive and side effects of various initiatives at regional, national and global level aimed at enhancing sustainability of agriculture and rural regions requires substantial theoretical knowledge at enriching which this Special Issue is dedicated for.

Dr. Artiom Volkov
Dr. Mangirdas Morkunas
Guest Editors

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Keywords

agriculture
rural regions
sustainability
Government
Common Agricultural Policy
resilience

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Related Special Issue

Solving a Puzzling Node among Agricultural Productivity, Sustainability and Food Security in Sustainability

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26 pages, 2295 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Local Socio-Economic Structures Determine the Spatial Distribution of Human Capital? Analysis of Connections for Rural Areas in Poland

by Maria Klonowska-Matynia

Sustainability 2023, 15(21), 15194; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115194 - 24 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1165

Abstract

The article has an empirical nature. The subject of detailed analysis is the variations in spatial distribution of human capital in rural areas of Poland and the analysis of the correlation of this phenomenon with local structures of the socio-economic development process. The diagnosis and assessment of variations in the spatial distribution of human capital were performed based on an author’s indicator—a synthetic measure of human capital level (HCI—human capital index). The characterisation of local socio-economic structures was based on the typology of rural areas according to Rural Development Monitoring (RDM 2014 and 2023). The study was conducted for rural areas in Poland defined by the Main Statistical Office based on the administrative criteria of rural and rural-urban municipalities. A total of 2172 municipalities were covered by the study. The data analysis was conducted spatially at the NUTS 5 level and comparatively at the NUTS 2 level for the years 2013–2018. The assumption was verified that the processes of human capital concentration in rural areas in Poland are related to local socio-economic structures of development processes, and the local structure factor that influences the existing differences is the degree of use of agricultural functions. The results of statistical tests positively verify this relationship as statistically significant. Moreover, the article provides strong arguments for shaping regional and rural policy and its implementation. The assumption about the need to change the approach to the study of rural space was positively verified; it is suggested to move away from analyses conducted at the level of the NUTS 2 region to the level of the NUTS 5 municipality. Research on rural areas makes sense only from a local perspective; it allows for a more accurate illustration of the specificity of local communities, revealing their development potentials and barriers, and, as a result, more effective programming of instruments supporting local development, dedicating specific support programs individually for each municipality, while the regional approach presents the state of differences too generally and may often lead to incorrect interpretation. In the empirical part of the article, taxonomic methods of hierarchy (patternless) and classification of multi-featured objects were used. As a result, each object (municipality) was assigned a synthetic measure—the relative human capital level index (HCI). Based on the HCI index, an ex-post hierarchical classification of municipalities was carried out. The main sources of data (diagnostic variables) for the construction of the HCI index were the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office (BDL GUS), the national census of NSP 2011, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Family and Social Policy, and District Examination Boards. The source of data on local socio-economic structures expressed based on the typology of rural areas according to the Rural Development Monitoring (RDM) methodology was the European Fund for the Development of Polish Villages (EFRWP). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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21 pages, 1337 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Geographical Indication Products Promote the Growth of the Agricultural Economy? An Empirical Study Based on Meta-Analysis

by Chunyan Li, Jianmei Gao, Lanqing Ge, Weina Hu and Qi Ban

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14428; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914428 - 2 Oct 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2308

Abstract

Do geographical indication products help facilitate the development of the agricultural economy? This problem is a point of controversy in the field of global agricultural intellectual property. For a long time, there have been different viewpoints on this problem; that is, there is a positive correlation, negative correlation, U-shape correlation, or no correlation between the geographical indication products and the development of the agricultural economy in the context of different studies. To clarify the influence mechanism between the two and explain why there are these disputes, this study used the meta-analysis method to statistically reanalyze 405 observation values provided in 64 independent research samples from the context of different regions around the world. The study results show that geographical indications not only generate more economic benefits than ordinary products but also contribute to the growth of the agricultural economy by effectively promoting the development of agricultural product trade and the enhancement of agricultural product price. There exists a low positive correlation between the geographical indication products and the agricultural economy (r = 0.176, 95% CI = [0.126, 0.225]). In addition, the promotion effect of geographical indication products on the agricultural economy is regulated by the country of origin of the samples, sample level, publication journal, data type, data acquisition approach, and research method. Our research findings further revealed the internal relationship mechanism between the geographical indication products and the agricultural economy and lay a foundation for better protecting and developing geographical indication products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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22 pages, 672 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Does the Integration of Cultural Tourism Industry Affect Rural Revitalization? The Mediating Effect of New Urbanization

by Linqing Fang, Zhihao Liu and Caiyu Jin

Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 10824; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151410824 - 10 Jul 2023

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4115

Abstract

The development and integration of industries have promoted economic growth and gradually become an important perspective to understand the country’s modernized construction. The cultural industry and the tourism industry are naturally coupled, which is an important part of the process of industrial integration. In addition, the country’s drive towards modernization needs to improve the overall level of industrial integration, and rural revitalization is one of the key links to this. Therefore, to explore the relationship between the integration of cultural tourism industry and rural revitalization, this study collected the panel data of 31 provincial-level regions in China from 2005 to 2021. Based on the entropy method and the coupling coordination degree model, this study constructs an evaluation index system, including cultural industry, tourism industry, the integration of cultural tourism industry, new urbanization, and rural revitalization, and obtains the comprehensive scores of each. Furthermore, the study discusses the path selection and future development direction of rural revitalization through the integration of a cultural tourism industry. The conclusions are drawn as follows: (1) The development of the cultural and tourism industries can significantly promote the development of new urbanization and rural revitalization; (2) the integration of cultural tourism industry has a positive effect on rural revitalization; (3) new urbanization plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between the integration of cultural tourism industry and rural revitalization; (4) new urbanization has a masking effect on the influence of the integration of cultural tourism industry on rural revitalization; and (5) the extent of these effects varies by region. Finally, this study not only deepens the understanding of rural revitalization from the perspective of industrial development and integration, but also provides an empirical basis for the country, local governments, and enterprises to promote rural revitalization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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18 pages, 514 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Assessment of the Most Appropriate Measures for Mitigation of Risks in the Agri-Food Supply Chain

by Jurgita Kuizinaitė, Mangirdas Morkūnas and Artiom Volkov

Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9378; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129378 - 10 Jun 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2991

Abstract

The present paper embarks on an investigation of the main risks associated with agri-food supply chains. A total of 11 key risks, namely Natural disasters of a global or local scale; Workers’ strikes; Change in government regulations or safety standards; Supply chain disruptions due to social or political unrest; Short term raw materials or products (expiration issue); Seasonality; Food safety incidents; Lack of smooth interconnection with other chain participants and Market and pricing strategies, economic crises and seven root risks (Natural disasters of a global or local scale; Workers’ strikes; Change in government regulations or safety standards; Rapid deterioration of raw materials (expiration) due to seasonality; Food safety incidents; Fraud in the food sector; Market and pricing strategies, economic crises) are applicable to all four stages of the agri-food supply chains were identified. An expert survey together with the Best-Worst Multi Criteria Decision Making method was employed as the main research tools. The most important root risks for agri-food supply chains are natural disasters of a global or local scale; workers’ strikes; change in government regulations or safety standards; rapid deterioration of raw materials (expiration), seasonality; food safety incidents; fraud in the food sector; market and pricing strategies economic crises. The most appropriate risk mitigation measures for each of the root risks were derived and assessed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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21 pages, 6964 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Agricultural and Rural Public Governance and Sustainable Development: Evidence from 2350 Data

by Tingting Huang and Qinghua Huang

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7876; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107876 - 11 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2228

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture and good governance are part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have attracted great attention from all nations around the world. A scientific metrological and knowledge map analysis was conducted on the spatial–temporal evolution, collaboration network, research hotspots, cluster labels, frontier detection, and evolution path of 2350 pieces of data in this paper. The main results show that research hotspots such as sustainable development, rural development, agriculture, and others have influenced the development of the entire research process and have evolved into larger topic cluster groups such as ecosystem service, sustainable agriculture, land consolidation, and agricultural intensification. Research frontiers such as agriculture, integrated systems, smallholder systems, rural sustainable development, and land consolidation play key roles. Based on the findings, it is necessary to focus on the UN 2030 SDGs, combine the countries’ regional development needs and reality, and further clarify and refine the topics that need to be studied and the problems that need to be solved. More scientific demonstration and more feasible measures should be adopted to jointly deal with and enhance awareness of the current problems and practical challenges and further promote practical development by cohering academic consensus and expanding and innovating the governance models from the comprehensive dimensions of economy, politics, society, culture, and ecological environment so as to achieve good agricultural and rural governance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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18 pages, 3551 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Rural Development Potential in the Bioeconomy in Developed Countries: The Case of Biogas Production in Denmark

by Jens Fyhn Lykke Sørensen and Henning Peter Jørgensen

Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 11077; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141711077 - 5 Sep 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2945

Abstract

Policy makers have expressed much optimism about the potentials of the bioeconomy in terms of economic growth and job creation in rural areas in developed countries. However, only few studies have attempted to quantify the rural employment effects of bioeconomic projects. This paper uses the biogas production in Denmark as a case within the bioeconomy. It performs a regional input-output analysis to estimate the number of jobs created in rural areas by an increase in the biogas production. The input-output analysis estimates the direct job creation at the biogas plants, the indirect job creation at firms that supply inputs to the plants, and the induced job creation that is generated locally through increased income spending. The results show that an increase in the biogas production by 10% of the available farm manure will give a permanent increase of 342 jobs and an extra annual income of approximately 21 million euros. Consequently, if all available biomass from farm manure were to be used in biogas production, it would result in 3420 jobs. The calculated employment effect is quite sizable but still somewhat modest compared to the significant employment declines in rural Denmark in recent years. Meanwhile, biogas is only one element in the bioeconomy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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24 pages, 1219 KiB

Open AccessArticle

CAP Direct Payments and Economic Resilience of Agriculture: Impact Assessment

by Agnė Žičkienė, Rasa Melnikienė, Mangirdas Morkūnas and Artiom Volkov

Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 10546; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710546 - 24 Aug 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2741

Abstract

This study presents an innovative approach to measuring the impact of EU CAP direct payments on the economic resilience of agriculture at a sectoral level. The construct of resilience is approached from the perspective of the resilience of the main functions of the sector. The overall level of direct payments impact on sectoral economic resilience is seen as a weighted sum of the payments’ impact on the resilience of the main economic functions of the sector. Such an approach, allowing for a comprehensive estimate of subsidy impact on the most essential areas of agriculture, is universal and can be adapted to measure economic resilience of other economic sectors. For the empirical application we used panel data from 27 EU countries over the period 2005–2019. The results revealed that the overall impact of direct payments on the economic resilience of agriculture across EU-27 was positive. However, the influence of the payments on different key functions of the sector diverged. The most evident and alarming negative changes in the economic resilience levels were observed in terms of efficiency of farms. Negative impact on separate indicators may pose a risk that the influence of direct payments on economic resilience of agriculture may not be sustainable in the longer run. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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19 pages, 3761 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards a Sustainable Grain Production Network: An Empirical Study from Northeast China

by Huiying Gao, Yu Zhang, Caifen Xu and Yangmeina Yang

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8849; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148849 - 19 Jul 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1905

Abstract

As an important grain-producing area in China, research on the spatial correlation network of grain production in Northeast China is of great significance to ensure food security and realize the sustainable development of grain production. Based on the data of 40 cities in Northeast China from 1999 to 2019, we used the modified gravity model and social network analysis method to explore the structural characteristics of the spatial correlation network of grain production. Then, we divided the network into four blocks—net spillover block, main beneficial block, broker block, and bidirectional spillover block—and explored the interactive relationships and spillover effects between blocks. On this basis, corresponding policy recommendations were put forward. The results are as follows. (1) The spatial correlation network of grain production in Northeast China presents a complicated development trend, but the overall tightness of the network still needs to be improved. (2) The spatial correlation network of grain production is characterized by multi-center distribution, in which important nodes not only play the role of central actors but also act as intermediaries and bridges in the network. (3) There are obvious spatial correlations and spillover effects between blocks, and it is in the agglomeration stage of the agglomeration–diffusion effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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17 pages, 1681 KiB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Stakeholder Participation for Nature-Based Solutions: Inspiration for Rural Area’s Sustainability in China

by Huihui Liu and Pim Martens

Sustainability 2023, 15(22), 15934; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152215934 - 14 Nov 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1503

Abstract

Due to the current pressure of rural modernization and industrialization, rural areas are facing social and environmental challenges such as a lack of cultural identity, low democratic participation, and the destruction of landscape ecology, especially in China, a large and representative developing country. The nature-based solutions (NbS) approach states that achieving the multiple benefits of nature for health and well-being requires wider stakeholder collaboration and integration of nature into the policies. Although many scholars have argued that NbS have a significant positive contribution to sustainability in rural areas, there is still a lack of clear pathways for NbS to guide farmer participation and address environmental issues. This paper first summarizes the theoretical research and practical experience of stakeholder participation for NbS through a systematic review. The literature analysis is mainly conducted from five perspectives: policies, benefits, challenges, methods, and frameworks. Combined with the “farmers as the main body” principle of China’s rural revitalization strategy, this study proposes to (1) stimulate farmers’ awareness of environmental protection; (2) enhance farmers’ participation and sense of ownership; (3) enhance farmers’ ability to take action to improve the ecological environment; and (4) integrate eco-design into their lives, make environmental protection education deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and cultivate green farmers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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20 pages, 3353 KiB

Open AccessEssay

Study on Rural Ecological Resilience Measurement and Optimization Strategy Based on PSR-“Taking Weiyuan in Gansu Province as an Example”

by Xiaoling Xie, Gaonan Zhou and Shibao Yu

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5462; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065462 - 20 Mar 2023

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 1960

Abstract

Under the dual impact of urbanization and ecological crisis, rural ecological resilience research can improve the system’s level of resisting external pressure and restoring ecological balance and provide a new perspective for sustainable rural development. This study establishes a rural ecological resilience measurement system in Weiyuan based on the PSR framework, evaluates the level of rural ecological resilience in Weiyuan in 2021 using the entropy method and the GWR model and detects its driving factors. The results show that (1) the spatial characteristics of rural ecological resilience diverge significantly, with the ecological resilience level of the three southern forest farms being higher overall the high values of resilience in Qingyuan, Wuzhu and Xiacheng being distributed in the central villages, while other villages are at low and medium values (2) X5 and X7 have negative driving effects on village ecological resilience, and X1, X5, X9 and X10 have positive driving effects on village ecological resilience (3) the dominant drivers and characteristics, we construct a scheme on stressor repair, state adaptation transformation and response efficiency optimization to provide ideas for improving rural ecological resilience. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future of Agriculture and Rural Regions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development)

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