(RUS2) Sustaining Rural Futures

Rural communities are simultaneously on the front lines of myriad significant societal changes and left behind by or left out of many others. This session invites papers that consider how rural societies are implicated in the social, economic, environmental, and/or technological changes referenced in this year's conference theme. Tags: Communautés, Rural Et Urbain

Organizers: Karen Foster, Dalhousie University, Jennifer Jarman, Lakehead University

Presentations

André Magnan, University of Regina

'Sustainability' in Farmland Investment - how ESG standards legitimize farmland as an alternative asset class

Since the mid-2000s, financial actors have been actively developing Canadian farmland into an ‘alternative asset class’. This process began with the establishment of some pioneering farmland investment firms who gradually acquired substantial portfolios of farmland on behalf of private investors, pension funds, and wealthy individuals. In part, this financialization of farmland was spurred by the food price spike of 2007-8 and other global macroeconomic factors that led specialized investment managers to develop a ‘farmland investment thesis’: a growing global population, increasing environmental pressures, and declining farmland would contribute to steadily rising farmland values. These predictions have largely been borne out, with farmland prices showing strong growth over the last 15 years. In recent years, farmland has been marketed as a stable investment during the tumultuous economic times of the global pandemic, rising inflation, and interest rate shocks. These macroeconomic trends have justified an increased interest in farmland investment as a means of portfolio diversification. Across the financial sector, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards are increasingly being used to identify risks and opportunities in investment decision-making and to differentiate investments as ‘ethical’ or ‘green’. Farmland investment managers are no exception as established and new players have been developing ESG indicators particular to the context of commercial agriculture. In the most common business model in the Canadian context, farmland investors purchase and manage farmland on behalf of investors, renting the land to commercial farm operators. ESG standards introduce new monitoring and reporting practices, with implications for the landlord-tenant relationship. This paper examines the maturing farmland investment sector, with a focus on the evolving nature of business models and discourses used to legitimize investor ownership of farmland. In particular, we focus on the development of ESG standards among the following key Canadian players: Andjelic Land, AgInvest Farmland Funds, Avenue Living, Bonnefield Financial, Veripath Farmland Partners, and Area One Farms. To varying degrees, each has developed ESG principles and standards that not only impinge on corporate governance matters, but also serve to monitor and regulate farming practices, and in turn ‘discipline’ farmer tenants. While some investor firms have developed ‘in-house’ standards of care, others have adopted internationally endorsed ‘principles of responsible investment’, and still others are turning to third-party certification. We compare these strategies and critically analyze the ESG standards in light of the potential benefits and risks for farmers and rural communities of financializing the farmland market. To what extent are environmental indicators used in ESG strategies – which can include reporting on soil health, water management, biodiversity, and climate change mitigation – adapted to local ecology and agronomic needs? To what extent do social indicators such as labour standards or engagement with local communities reflect local realities? Our paper problematizes the roll out of farmland investment ESG standards as both a project for quantifying and standardizing farming practices and for legitimizing the financialization of agriculture.

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Non-presenting author: Emily Duncan, University of Regina

Ashley Berard, University of Victoria

Lessons from Lytton: Understanding the Social Impact of a Wildfire Disaster

The interior region of British Columbia made international headlines during the summer of 2021 when the small community of Lytton reached Canada’s highest recorded temperature ever at 49.6 degrees Celsius. The next day, the community was sent an evacuation order at 6:00pm due to an encroaching wildfire. Within an hour, the community had burnt down, leaving the majority of the town’s 250 residents without homes. Other rural communities in the Interior of British Columbia consistently experience wildfire disasters, with evacuations, poor air quality, and loss becoming a normal part of life. This presentation will present findings from a PhD project in which community members from Lytton and other rural communities were interviewed to share what the experience of wildfire seasons are, and the compounding social impacts that are faced due to climate changes. Findings will highlight the role of social capital in addressing the main concerns participants raised. 

Tanya Trussler, Mount Royal University

Rural and urban perceptions of policing in Alberta

Positive public perception of policing is important as it is often considered a gauge for police performance. Canada maintains a relatively high level of trust in the police, however, there is often a perceived opinion gap on policing between rural and urban residents. Using a survey of 1470 respondents from Alberta (2023), this paper compares views on policing for rural and urban residents. Firstly, we outline basic opinions of policing between the two geographic self-identified groups. Secondly, we create more complex scales of perception of policing and compare means across the two groups. Finally, we look at whether various factors affect opinions of police differently across rural and urban respondents. Results indicate many similarities across the two groups. Areas for future research are discussed.

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Non-presenting author: Lars Hailstrom, University of Lethbridge

Jennifer Jarman, Lakehead University

From Foodshed to Fibershed, Regenerative Agriculture, and the Affordability Crisis

This paper explores the evolution of the concept of “fibershed” from W.P. Hedden’s pioneering work on the distribution of perishable foods to large cities (Hedden, 1929) to Rebecca’s Burgess and Courtney White’s recent work promoting the potential of regional fibersheds to combat climate change and toxic fabric production (Burgess and White, 2019). It discusses the key differences between the concepts of foodshed and fibershed and then considers the methodological literature on foodshed and fibershed mapping. Specific attention is given to efforts to understand the nature of local supply chains between rural and urban areas. The relatively unexplored problem of documenting interrelationships between food- and fiber-sheds is discussed. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for better integration of the sociological literature on social inequality and the affordability crisis into the discussion of food/fibersheds, emphasizing that food/fiber supply chains need to be built to be both stable and environmentally sustainable, but also affordable to those in low-income groups.