Perspectives of Livestock Farmers in an Urbanized Environment

Abstract

Agriculture and its conflicts is a traditional debate in contemporary rural geography, associated with the organization and transformation of cultural landscapes by social groups. One of the most important areas of research is the perspectives and responses of farmers on the urban-rural fringe. The problems associated with land use change and the varying influences on new uses of traditional landscape introduce renovating and permanent elements to the management, responses and perspectives of farmers: extensification, changes in the organization of farm, relocation, etc. The purpose of this research is to analyze the conflicts, key responses and perspectives over farmland uses and their coexistence with the main dynamics of local and regional land use governance in the metropolitan rural area of Madrid, Spain. This contribution presents the main results of an empirical research in a key area in the north of the Madrid region: the municipalities of Colmenar Viejo and Tres Cantos. The methodology is mainly qualitative, based on an ethno geographical approach concerning livestock farmers directly affected by the urbanization process. The main results reflect the relevance of local politics and the individual livestock farmers' strategies.

COVID-19, Livestock Systems and Food Security in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review of an Emerging Literature

“…While the first article in this review was published in December 2019, this indicates an increasing interest in this subject as well as the immediacy in attention and response of the scientific community to the outbreak of COVID-19 and its consequences on livestock systems and food security in developing countries. Furthermore, the frequency of these publications indicates an increased interest by researchers and practitioners in the effects of nature-induced risks on livestock systems in food security in these countries, while research on threats to agricultural systems in developing countries has traditionally centered on ‘crop’ production systems and viewed ‘livestock’ systems as an adjunct to crops [ 30 ]. Another important feature of this literature is the high level of international collaboration, where 70% of the reviewed articles involved authors affiliated with institutions in more than one country.…”

Laboratory Life: Twenty Years of Experimental Research with Locals and New Comers in Remote Rural Areas

“…4) Discourses and experimental, extented stay in the field, (auto) ethnographical perspective, and need to understand the depopulation in my own experience. This phase is driven by the roots: "Autoethnographic self-narratives may take a variety of forms and emerge from a range of speaking positions" [15,[53][54][55][56][57][58] . In this last phase, it was necessary to understand the transformation dynamics in geographical places that were representative [59][60][61] .…”

“…The variable and multiple cultural dimensions of farmers, suggest deconstructing and individualizing responses to micro processes of change and marginalization in remote rural areas. The qualitative methodology is based on biographical and ethnographical stories [53] of farmers who have always lived in depopulated areas [54,55] . The analysis of discourses can be used to study the lifestyle and complexity of some groups of farmers and to study strategies of resistance and permanence in place.…”

“…Oral histories have also been used to study the different farming cultures and processes of change [56][57][58] . These resistance processes have a long-lasting nature, associated with a gradual and relative spatial marginalization and a transformation of the social and professional position in the context of the social community [54,55] . Ultimately, it is possible to establish micro differences between two processes:…”