Rural Policies, Farmers’ Perceptions and Planning: Enhancing Collaborative Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

We are faced with complicated and difficult challenges as we strive to supply and distribute enough food for an ever-expanding global population while protecting the natural environment. Policies, both regulations and incentives, impact rural economies and the entire agri-food sector.  While regulations may be necessary to ensure the sustainability of the natural environment, they can often negatively impact the social and economic sustainability of rural communities. In addition, incentive programs designed to assist farmers, and therefore ensure a stable food supply during trying times, may be perceived as unequally distributed or untimely. Naturally, farmers across the globe have emotional and logical reactions to policy discussions of all types that can be used positively to enhance dialogue or result in negative consequences. Therefore, farmers’ perceptions of policy are inherently tied to policy development and implementation alongside long-term planning.

This Special Issue will highlight research showcasing areas where farmers’ perceptions are utilized to understand the barriers and enablers associated with political planning in support of sustainability. To address the opportunities and challenges associated with all aspects of this process we welcome papers on:

The identification of farmers’ perceived political barriers and enablers of the adoption of sustainable agricultural innovations, including an evaluation of public/private partnerships and evaluations of outreach initiatives;

Case studies that elucidate specific policy situations involving rural farming communities;

Shared planning in the development of sustainable policy, encompassing collaboration between public and private sectors that include policy implications/interactions with rural farmers;

Policy modelling and associated social, economic, and environmental impacts that impact the sustainability of farming in rural areas;

Future perspectives on research advancement and outreach associated with collaborative sustainability planning that involves policy.

Dr. Alexa Lamm
Guest Editor

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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 2400 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.

• rural communities
• farmer
• perceptions
• policy
• regulation
• incentive
• agriculture