New publication: How can rural proofing better support the future of rural areas?

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New publication in the Journal of Rural Studies: How can rural proofing better support the future of rural areas?

In the paper, “Rural Proofing Challenges, Claims and Controversy: The Case of the Netherlands”, our colleagues Bettina Bock, Henk Oostindie, and Han Wiskerke explore the potential of rural proofing through a case study of the Dutch National Housing Policy Initiative.

The paper examines how policies can better address rural housing needs and argues for an approach that goes beyond checking policy impacts in advance. Instead, rural proofing should be a collaborative, two-way process that connects national and local policymakers and brings rural needs into place-based policymaking.

The publication contributes to ongoing debates about rural development and multi-level rural governance.

This publication is also a reminder of Henk’s valuable contribution to research on rural development.

Read the article.

Playing for change: games that bring people together around food

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How can games help people connect with their neighbours, share food, and create more sustainable communities? The CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement, developed by partners including Wageningen University & Research, brings together practical tools, resources and games that encourage social participation in food-sharing activities.

From exploring the future of food sharing to caring for community gardens and discovering edible plants, these games offer creative ways to learn, exchange experiences and work together on local food-related challenges.

Exploring the future of food sharing

Food-sharing initiatives can strengthen social connections and contribute to more sustainable food systems. But how do these initiatives work in practice, and what challenges do they face?

The game The Future of Food Sharing invites players to explore these questions together. Using Quest Cards, Tool Cards and optional Risk Cards, players consider real-life challenges and discuss possible approaches to food-sharing initiatives. The game offers a practical way to exchange ideas and explore solutions collectively.

Finding common ground in community gardens

Community gardens bring people together around a shared space, but maintaining one also involves everyday decisions and challenges. The game Common Ground explores what it takes to care for a community garden.

Players consider topics such as teamwork, biodiversity, harvesting, climate pressure and soil health. By working through different situations, they can reflect on how to manage shared spaces, balance different priorities and care for the environment together.

Learning about food sharing through play

Food sharing can also be a way to introduce children to healthy eating, nature and community cooperation. In Grandma is Coming!, players work together to collect ingredients from a neighbourhood food forest and complete Grandma’s favourite healthy recipe before she reaches the end of the path.

Along the way, children learn about food forests, composting, healthy eating and the idea that food can come from places beyond the supermarket. The game combines cooperation and play with an introduction to more sustainable food practices.

Discovering edible plants and sharing food memories

How many edible wild plants do you know? The free print-and-play card game Let’s Eat invites players to explore the plants growing in their urban surroundings, share food memories and create recipes with their neighbours.

The game encourages players to get to know one another, exchange experiences and develop new recipes using wild plants found in the city.

Explore the Citizen Engagement Library

These games show how playful activities can open up conversations about food, sustainability and community life. They provide opportunities for people to share knowledge, explore different perspectives and consider how they can work together in their own neighbourhoods.

The games are part of the CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement, developed by project partners including Wageningen University & Research. The library brings together practical tools, resources and games designed to support engagement and social participation in food-sharing activities.

Would you like to try the games yourself? Explore the CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement and watch the tutorials to learn how to play and use the games in your own community.

The games were developed as part of the CULTIVATE project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (grant agreement No. 101083377).

From research to action: the new SWIFT Advocacy Tool for more gender-equitable agriculture

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How can research contribute to real-world change? The new SWIFT Advocacy Tool brings together research, evidence and experiences from the field to support advocacy for more gender-equitable agricultural policies.

Research projects generate valuable knowledge. But academic papers and reports are not always easy to access or use for people working on the ground, engaging in policy discussions or advocating for change.

This was one of the motivations behind the new SWIFT Advocacy Tool, launched on 30 September 2026 as part of the Horizon Europe project SWIFT – Supporting Women-Led Innovations in Farming and Rural Territories.

Rather than presenting research as a collection of reports and academic publications, the tool translates insights from the SWIFT project and beyond into an accessible, visual and story-driven format. It is designed to help users connect evidence and experiences with practical strategies for change.

Three entry points into the agricultural policy landscape

The tool is structured around three themes: Income & Subsidies, Generational Renewal and Access to Land.

These themes provide different entry points into some of the challenges shaping the present and future of farming.

Through each theme, visitors move through stories from the field, research findings and evidence. Along the way, they can explore how policies and structures affect different people and communities, and consider possible strategies for change.

The tool ultimately leads towards practical resources that can support advocacy and decision-making.

From knowledge sharing to advocacy

The SWIFT Advocacy Tool is primarily aimed at social movements and organisations engaging in policy discussions at EU level. Researchers, policymakers and others interested in gender-equitable agricultural and rural policies are also important audiences.

Its purpose is not simply to communicate research findings. It is intended to facilitate knowledge sharing, advocacy and decision-making in support of medium- and long-term gender-responsive strategies for farming and rural areas.

By bringing together evidence, lived experiences and practical resources, the tool aims to make knowledge more accessible and useful for those working towards change.

Explore the tool

The SWIFT Advocacy Tool is now available at: https://feministagroecology.com

We invite researchers, policymakers, social movements, farmers’ organisations and others working on agricultural and rural issues to explore the tool and share it with their networks.

The Advocacy Tool is one of the outputs of SWIFT – Supporting Women-Led Innovations in Farming and Rural Territories, a four-year Horizon Europe project working to advance the position of women and LGBTQI+ persons in farming and rural territories.

Diverse Rural Identities and Politics of Belonging: Innovation, Intersections, and Entrepreneurship in Rural and Agricultural Territories

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Date: Thursday 15 October, 10.00–12.30
Location: Aurora B 9216, Wageningen University & Research

How can research and policy better recognise diverse rural and agricultural women’s identities, agency and perspectives on innovation and entrepreneurship?

On Thursday 15 October, Wageningen University & Research will host the interactive and interdisciplinary colloquium Diverse Rural Identities and Politics of Belonging: Innovation, Intersections, and Entrepreneurship in Rural and Agricultural Territories.

The session is organised in the context of the International Year of the Woman Farmer and Rural Women’s Day.

Women-led innovation and entrepreneurship

International research projects on women-led innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture and rural areas that were recently finalised provide the starting point for the session.

These projects provide ample evidence of women’s own notions and agency around innovation and entrepreneurship. Covering diverse geographical contexts across the globe, they also show how research and policy can better do justice to these perspectives.

The EU projects Grass Ceiling: Gender Equality in Rural and Agricultural Innovation Systems and SWIFT: Supporting Women-led Innovation in Farming Territories, together with the INREF project FermFood, will form the basis for the discussion.

The projects were conducted at Wageningen University & Research, with Bettina Bock, Valentina Materia and Jessica Duncan in the lead.

An interactive session

Following brief presentations of the most striking takeaways from these international projects, the session will move into an interactive group-work set-up.

Participants joining in person will work in groups, while online participants will join through breakout rooms. Together, they will exchange insights and perspectives on new avenues for research and policy to better embed diverse rural and agricultural women’s identities.

Four main questions will kick off the discussions:

  • What from your research or practice resonates or dissonates with the presented takeaways?
  • What accordingly needs to be added or changed in mainstream concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship to better include women’s notions and agency?
  • What might be the underlying root causes to address, and what research or policy can help to leverage these?
  • What ways forward do you see to collaborate and tackle these issues in research and/or policymaking?

Practical information

Date: Thursday 15 October
Time: 10.00–12.30
Location: Aurora B 9216, Wageningen University & Research
Participation: Free and open to all interested

We prefer participation in person. An online link will mainly be available for participants joining from abroad.

Please register for updates, further details and a calendar invitation via this link.

Further details will be shared with those who register.
Please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone who might be interested.

Upcoming PhD defence of Anna Roodhof

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We are proud to share that Anna Roodhof of the Rural Sociology Group will be defending her PhD thesis entitled “Reclaiming economic viability through food forestry: Entanglements of discourse, governance, and practice”
 
When: Friday, 9 October at 15:30
Where: Omnia Auditorium, Wageningen Campus

𝗔𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁
This dissertation examines the economic viability of food forests in the Netherlands and the discursive and governance conditions through which such viability emerges. Food forestry – an agricultural practice that mimics forest ecosystem dynamics to integrate food production with ecological restoration – has become increasingly prevalent in the Global North. Despite its multifunctional logic, it is often evaluated through conventional economic frameworks that equate viability with financial profitability, positioning economic, ecological, and social value as separate and competing domains. Challenging this reductionist perspective, the dissertation develops a relational, multispecies, and more-than-monetary understanding of economic viability grounded in diverse economies thinking.

For those unable to attend in person, the ceremony will also be livestreamed via: https://wur.yuja.com. A link will appear in the “Event” section approximately 5 minutes before the start of the ceremony.