Journal of Rural and Community Development
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Rural Broadband Development in Canada's Provinces: An Overview of Policy Approaches
No full textPotential for private sector under-investment in rural broadband networks motivates a wide range of public sector initiatives around the world that aim to promote incentives to supply high-speed Internet access services in rural and remote communities. This paper provides an overview of policies and program design strategies that have shaped rural broadband development in Canada. The Canadian experience is particularly interesting in the context of broader debates about addressing the urban-rural digital divide because a combination of competition and targeted subsidies have helped achieve near universal access to some form of Internet connectivity.
Keywords: Rural development, broadband, policy analysis, Canad
Risk and Plant Disease Management: Supply Chain Perspectives in the UK Wheat Sector
Get PDFWhile the relationship between food security and plant diseases has been the subject
of scientific research, little is known about the attitudes of key supply chain actors
towards plant diseases within specific food supply chains. Drawing on concepts of
crop protection, control and risk perception, this paper examines ways in which
endemic plant disease risks in the UK wheat supply chain are perceived and
managed by key 'upstream' and 'downstream' businesses. Septoria and Yellow Rust
emerge as the main perceived disease threats to UK wheat production. However,
interviewees feel that plant disease is a controllable risk and one that rests mainly at
the production end of the supply chain. As a consequence of this assumed 'control',
there is a tendency to grow higher-yielding but less disease-resistant wheat varieties.
This increases risk along the wheat supply chain, potentially raising costs and prices.
Climate change and the potential banning of certain fungicides under EU legislation
are perceived future threats that could increase uncertainty and change the balance
between 'control' and 'resistance', the latter through the use of more diseaseresistant
varieties. More research is urgently needed on the perceived impacts of
plant disease on other food supply chains and on the relationship between crop
protection and risk perception.
Keywords: Plant disease; crop protection; control; resistance; risk perception; UK
wheat supply chain
Reclaiming the 'Public' Lands: Community Conflict and Rural Gentrification
No full textThe current aspirations of the British coalition government to sell-off publicly-owned land and building assets to facilitate new housing development, raise capital, and engage local communities is an emotive issue. Why 'public' assets are relinquished, and how land and buildings are redeveloped by private sector organisations can stimulate conflicts/resistance within local communities. Using the case study of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, this paper explores how a local community group opposed the proposed development of a local authority-owned 'car park' on the premise that it was 'out of place' in the rural small town, and more congruous with a large urban setting. As the disposal of public land and buildings is more widely taken-up, it is possible that similar NIMBY protests may become more pronounced and spatially diffused in the UK as the make-up of local places is transformed.
Keywords: rural change, rural housing, NIMBY, rural gentrifiers, resistanc
Rural Geography – Rural Development: An Examination of Agriculture, Policy and Planning, and Community in Rural Areas
Get PDFEvaluating the Knowledge Utilization of a Toolkit to Enhance the Capacity of Rural Communities to Deliver Palliative Care
Get PDFToolkits have become a popular strategy for knowledge utilization, but are they effective in translating intellectual knowledge into practical knowledge? What does "use" mean? Furthermore, how can the utilization of toolkits-as-knowledge, be meaningfully evaluated? This paper is an examination of these issues within the context of toolkits intended to enhance the capacity of rural communities to deliver palliative care.
Keywords: palliative care; rural; knowledge utilization; knowledge utilization evaluatio
Multiple Lenses: Rural Landscape through the Eyes of Nurse Preceptors and Students
Get PDFIn a recent photovoice study, fourth year nursing students and their rural nurse preceptors provided us with photographs and commentary documenting their everyday, lived realities, from which we constructed a narrative of preceptorship in the rural nursing context. We found that rural nursing integrates professional and community values, and that landscape mediates this integration in four ways: travel, occupationalism, historicity, and symbolic projection. Rural preceptorships introduce nursing students to dichotomous perceptions of landscape, derived from rural nurses' multiple roles and the competing scripts of official policy versus community bonds. Disseminated in media-rich formats such as exhibitions, photo-essays and online resources, these findings amount to a compelling message to prospective rural nurses, educators, and policymakers: rural nursing is a specialty, too long marginalized, with its own unique challenges and rewards.
Keywords: landscape, rural, nursing, preceptorship, Gemeinschaft, photovoic
Governance for Local and Regional Food Systems
Get PDFLocal and regional food systems continue to emerge, despite daunting challenges. This article argues that such challenges can only be successfully confronted through the adoption of a more systematic approach and adequate governance. A new paradigm of "sustainable food security" is presented, alongside a classification scheme and clear definitions for the varieties of local and regional food systems. A discussion concerning the (multi) governance of local and regional food systems is supported through the presentation of examples from around the world.
Keywords: food systems, local, regional, classification, governanc
Mobilizing Outcomes from a 5-year Research Program addressing 'Timely Access and Seamless Transitions in Rural Palliative/End-of-Life (P/EOL) care in Canada': A Knowledge Translation Strategy
Get PDFThis paper provides an overview of the knowledge translation (KT) strategies employed in the dissemination of the research outcomes produced by a 5-year Research Program addressing 'Timely Access and Seamless Transitions in Rural Palliative/End-of-Life (P/EOL) (named the ICE program). The nature of this interdisciplinary, national research program, made up of 10 independent research projects, necessitates dynamic and varied KT strategies that are tailored to the specific stakeholder user groups identified. Knowledge translation has therefore been targeted to three identified stakeholder user groups: (1) policy and decision makers; (2) health care professionals, including clinicians and program makers, and; (3) end users, including patients and informal caregivers. The KT strategies that have been employed to date will be discussed specific to each of the three noted stakeholder user groups. Although the research program is now formally complete, the KT work is ongoing.
Keywords: Knowledge translation, stakeholder user groups, rural palliative health care, interdisciplinary researc
Vulnerability, Volunteerism, and Age-Friendly Communities: Placing Rural Northern Communities into Context
Get PDFVolunteerism is considered to be one aspect of age-friendly communities. To be age-friendly is to indicate that the community is committed to promoting the well-being and contributions of older people. Rural northern communities can be vulnerable to external forces, and this vulnerability impacts volunteerism. Using a focused ethnographic approach, the purpose of this study was to examine aging in place in a rural northern community in northern Ontario in a state of economic transition and instability. Interviews were conducted with 84 participants, including older adults, health and social care providers, and other community members. There were several themes emerging associated with the idea of volunteering, including a lack of volunteers, volunteer burnout, community attitudes, a lack of newcomer participation, and a transitory lifestyle. These themes were discussed against the backdrop of a community in a state of economic instability, and reflected the demographic, economic, and social changes that the community had experienced over the last few years. The findings suggest that when examining the aspect of volunteerism within the age-friendly framework, the context of the community has to be taken into consideration
Evolution of Palliative Care in Ontario: The Impact of Geography, Funding, and Advocacy
Get PDFDespite the growing interest in and awareness of palliative care in Ontario, its evolution has not yet been described or explained. The purpose of this study was to examine the evolution of palliative care in the province of Ontario, with a large rural representation, in both area and impending need for palliative care. Academic and grey literatures were reviewed to synthesize a provincial timeline of key developmental milestones. Interviews (n=7) were conducted with stakeholders to confirm the validity of the timeline produced. Three temporal periods comprising the past 30 years of palliative care evolution in Ontario were determined: (1) the 1980s: the foundational years; (2) the 1990s: increased government involvement, and; (3) 2000+: stakeholders working together. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed three emergent themes consistent throughout the three temporal periods: the impact of geography, funding, and advocacy on the development of palliative care in Ontario. These results can be useful in illustrating what facilitates and constrains the development of quality palliative care service delivery in other geographies, whether provincial, regional or national.
Keywords: palliative care, developmental milestones, geography, funding, advocac