International Rural Sociology Association - IRSA

Rural sociologist and IRSA Council member, Professor Mark Shucksmith (Newcastle University, UK), recently participated in a BBC Radio3 live discussion on ‘Who Controls the Countryside?’. The discussion was recorded at The Sage Gateshead before a full house on Sunday 27th October and was broadcast on Thursday 7th November. You can listen to the recording, or download it, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03g2yf

When Words Fail: Does a Warming World Need a New Vocabulary?
YES! Magazine featurs an interview with Professor Glenn Albrecht from Murdoch University (Australia) on his research on what words that we use to describe how we feel about the places we live and climate change. Read the full article here.

Innovating New Zealand to a greater GDP ranking
Professor John Fairweather asks if we are overlooking one of the best and most Kiwi sources of innovation New Zealand has to offer? What can be done to harness it for the country’s collective benefit? Lincoln University’s Professor John Fairweather makes the case for encouraging greater ‘user innovation’. Read the full article here.

Towards a Real Sustainable Agri-food Security and Food Policy: Beyond the Ecological Fallacies? Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning, Terry Marsden, has published an article in The Political Quarterly about agri-food security and food policy. Read the introduction here.

Farms, mines and foreign ownership. A case for regulation in the national interest?
Michael Santhanam-Martin and Geoffrey Lawrence has written a discussion piece on food export and security. Read full story

Joint farming ventures: Dr Áine Macken-Walsh said the weakening of the farm family and the rise of the one-man farm posed a threat to the sustainability of rural areas. Share farming and partnership may be the best way of addressing the loneliness and isolation associated with farming. Read full story

UK report calls for rethink on farm veterinary service: The veterinary profession needs to rethink its relationship with farmers and with the government, and play a more positive and central role in ensuring food safety according to a report authored by Philip Lowe. Read full story

US rural sociologist expertise in law case on corporate farming: North Dakota law prohibits corporations from farming, ranching, or owning or leasing farmland. North Dakota family-controlled corporations are exempt from the law. The law does allow nonprofit organizations to buy agricultural land for conservation purposes, but only after an extensive review process. Rural social scientists have been called upon as expert witnesses to document the legitimate public purposes that corporate farming laws serve. Curtis Stofferahn draw upon existing research that documents the effects of industrialized farming on communities. Read full story

Climate work needs social science: In a letter published in the Guardian, Philip Lowe argues that natural sciences working alone cannot address the challenges of climate change. Read full story

Increasing rural suicide rates in Ireland: While EU incidence of suicide was falling, the Irish rate was increasing and there appears to be a very high level in rural areas. Maria Feeney will determine the breakdown between rural and other areas, and to find out exactly what this is and the reasons for it, Read full story