Barriers Facing New Entrants to Farming – an Emphasis on Policy

Recent UK studies highlight some of the challenges of adjustment facing the farming industry; an ageing farming population, a common absence of successor, and economic barriers combining to deter new entrants to the industry. Yet the future of farming is dependent on continued entry by new farm operators, either through the family farm business, new entrants from other sectors or via the ‘agricultural ladder’ i.e. from a farm worker to tenant to owner operator. Evidence suggests that new entrants in each situation encounter difficulties, some generic and some specific to individual cases. What is unclear is the role and influence of a range of policies on new entrant decisions. At a time when the farming industry is under pressure to compete and adjustment becomes increasingly urgent, the influential (direct or indirect) role of policy becomes more pertinent. This paper will review the current entry/exit situation in Scotland and, drawing upon recent research, highlight the main barriers affecting new entrants. The role and influence of various policies on new entrant decisions will be discussed. The paper concludes with a debate as to whether the issues raised warrant further intervention.Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management,

Development of a head-mounted, eye-tracking system for dogs

Growing interest in canine cognition and visual perception has promoted research into the allocation of visual attention during free-viewing tasks in the dog. The techniques currently available to study this (i.e. preferential looking) have, however, lacked spatial accuracy, permitting only gross judgements of the location of the dog’s point of gaze and are limited to a laboratory setting. Here we describe a mobile, head-mounted, video-based, eye-tracking system and a procedure for achieving standardised calibration allowing an output with accuracy of 2-3º. The setup allows free movement of dogs; in addition the procedure does not involve extensive training skills, and is completely non-invasive. This apparatus has the potential to allow the study of gaze patterns in a variety of research applications and could enhance the study of areas such as canine vision, cognition and social interactions

Healthy Ageing in Smart Villages? Observations from the Field

In the context of demographically ageing communities across rural Europe Smart Villages have considerable potential to promote ageing healthy. Whilst in principle supporting healthy ageing in the context of the Smart Village might appear a relatively straightforward endeavour, in operational terms, successful development of smart, 21st century villages relies upon, and sometimes assumes, an appropriate interplay of socio-technological factors. Articulated through a lens provided by the digital ecosystem model advocated by the European Network for Rural Development (2018), this paper offers some observations from the field. We acknowledge the challenges faced by remote rural places in their journey to become ‘smart places’ and identify formal and informal interventions that could better position rural communities to become part of a wider, smart society

Sleepwalking into the ‘post-racial’: social policy and research-led teaching

Research-led teaching is the sine qua non of the 21st century university. To understand its possibilities for teaching and learning about race in Social Policy requires, as a first step, interrogating the epistemological and theoretical core of the discipline, as well as its organisational dynamics. Using parts of Emirbayer and Desmond’s (2012) framework of disciplinary reflexivity, this article traces the discipline’s habits of thought but also its lacunae in the production of racial knowledge. This entails focusing on its different forms of institutionalised and epistemological whiteness, and what has shaped the omission or marginalisation of a full understanding of the racialisation of welfare subjects and regimes in the discipline. Throughout, the article offers alternative analyses and thinking that fully embrace the historical and contemporary role of race, racism, and nation in lived realities, institutional processes, and global racial orders. It concludes with pointers towards a re-envisioning of Social Policy, within a framework in which postcolonial and intersectional theory and praxis are championed. Only then might a decolonised curriculum be possible in which race is not peripheral to core teaching and learning

Social care students’ learning in the practice placement in Ireland

The practice placement is a central component of social care education, being seen as where students develop their practice skills, self-awareness and apply theoretical knowledge. This research reports on social care students’ experiences of their practice placements, in particular how learning was achieved and what helped learning. An interpretivist approach was used in line with the acceptance of the individuality of students’ experiences. A volunteer sample of seventeen students were interviewed individually at the end of their final year in college. The interview transcripts were thematically analysed. Four themes were identified: the need for a balance between autonomy and doing with supervision and observing; the role of all agency staff; the realities of practice and there is always learning. The findings suggest that learning about practice and self occurs in many ways in placement. While supervisors and other staff play a role in assisting student learning by various means participants saw themselves as primarily responsible for their own learning. A key message from this research is that educators cannot regulate everything that happens on placement so students need to be prepared and encouraged to exploit and recognise learning opportunities

Social care graduates’ judgements of their readiness and preparedness for practice

While research has been conducted on social work graduates’ views of their readiness and preparedness for practice, the views of social care workers have not been specifically researched. This paper reports on the views of social care graduates in Ireland of how ready they are to join the workforce and how their educational programme has prepared them. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with the same participants. The first was at the end of their final year in college and the second between 9 and 12 months later when they were in employment. Findings indicate that participants, while apprehensive, felt ready for the workforce. Although awareness of the difference between placement and work was apparent, placement was seen as essential preparation. Differences were apparent in judgements of academic modules, suggesting that views on the usefulness of different knowledge types are subjective. Common however was an increasing focus on the usefulness of practical knowledge after time in employment suggesting that, as found in research involving experienced practitioners, the theoretical underpinnings of practice are not emphasised in the workplace. Suggestions are made for educators to maintain an approach to practice that is informed by a body of knowledge beyond specific workplace practices

Sustainable food production: constraints, challenges and choices by 2050

The way we grow and consume food is changing both landscapes and societies globally. The constraints and challenges we face in meeting the anticipated large increase in global food demand out to 2050 are examined to show that while they present significant difficulties on many fronts, we have a large range of choices in the way this food demand might be met. Meeting this future food demand has frequently been articulated as a crisis of supply alone by some dominant institutions and individuals with prior ideological commitments to a particular framing of the food security issue. Our analysis indicates that the crisis can be avoided by the choices we make. The food security debate will be enriched by a rigorous evaluation of all these choices and recognition that the eventual solution will reside in a mixture of these choices. We could shift from our current paradigm of productivity enhancement while reducing environmental impacts, to a paradigm where ecological sustainability constitutes the entry point for all agricultural development. If we embraced this new paradigm, sustainable governance and management of ecosystems, natural resources and earth system processes at large, could provide the framework for practical solutions towards an intensification of agriculture. Such a paradigm shift could reposition world food production from its current role as the world’s single largest driver of global environmental change, to becoming a critical part of a world transition to work within the boundaries of the safe operating space for humanity with respect to the planet’s biophysical processes and functions.This paper was part of a workshop sponsored by the OECD Co-operative Research Programme on Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems

‘It’s revolutionised how we do things’: then and now - a case study of Internet behaviours in a remote rural community

This document is the final version of a published work that appeared in final form in Proceedings of the XXVI European Society for Rural Sociology Congress: Places of Possibility? Rural Societies in a Neoliberal World, 18-21 August, Aberdeen, Scotland. To access the final edited and published work see http://esrs2015.hutton.ac.uk/sites/www.esrs2015.eu/files/Final%20ESRS%202015%20congress%20proceedings.pdfThe Digital Economy has opened up new opportunities for societal wellbeing across many domains of life. However, the market dependency of the landscape of connection has resulted in communities which have inadequate broadband infrastructure and are off the digital map. This form of digital exclusion is most notable in remote, rural areas. In this paper we draw upon the Rural Public Access WiFi Service research study that is focused upon enabling Internet connectivity for commercially ‘hard to reach’ rural areas in the UK. Enabling broadband connectivity to those who were previously unable to access the Internet demonstrates benefits, which translate into the positive role that improved digital connectivity can have on the wellbeing of individuals and remote rural communities at large