Meet our visiting scholar: Luo Xi, Sichuan Normal University, China

Posted on by
Reply

We’re pleased to welcome Dr. Luo Xi to the Rural Sociology Group (RSO) as a visiting scholar from Sichuan Normal University, China. Luo Xi is Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Management and a postdoctoral researcher at the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences. During her eight-month stay, she is developing comparative research on cooperative governance and institutional arrangements in China and the Netherlands.

Research focus

Luo Xi’s research focuses on farmers’ organizations, agricultural cooperatives, and the rural collective economy in China. She examines how institutional arrangements shape collective action, farmers’ participation, and smallholder livelihoods.

Her work combines extensive fieldwork with policy-oriented research, including a large-scale assessment of agricultural cooperatives in Sichuan Province. She aims to connect farmers’ experiences and local institutional practices with academic research and practical policy recommendations.

Her current research includes a project funded by the National Social Science Fund of China on rural collective economic organizations and stable income growth among smallholders in less-developed regions of western China. She is also working on a project funded by the Sichuan Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences programme, which examines the role of rural collective economic organizations in addressing farmland fragmentation. In addition, she participates in an international comparative case study project on agricultural cooperatives.

Current work at RSO

During her eight-month stay at the Rural Sociology Group, Luo Xi is developing comparative research on cooperatives in China and the Netherlands. She examines how governance arrangements influence members’ participation, communication, and decision-making.

Through case studies, fieldwork, and exchanges with RSO colleagues, she hopes to deepen her understanding of cooperative practices and explore their implications for rural development in China.

Why RSO and Wageningen?

Coming to Wageningen has been a long-standing aspiration for Luo Xi. She was drawn to the university’s reputation in agricultural research and the Netherlands’ long history of agricultural cooperatives.

She chose RSO because her research is fundamentally concerned with people: how farmers interact, make decisions, and organize collectively. This closely aligns with RSO’s sociological approach to rural development. During her stay, she also hopes to exchange research perspectives, share experiences from China, and learn from Wageningen’s teaching approaches.

Beyond research

Outside academia, Luo Xi enjoys travelling and exploring local history and cultures. She also has a passion for jade and gemstones and enjoys designing and making her own jewellery. During her stay in Europe, she looks forward to discovering new places and experiencing different ways of life.

New publication by Kees Jansen

Posted on by
Reply

Just out: Knowledge Work as a Condition of Accumulation in the Pesticide Industry: Syngenta’s Defence of Paraquat

Kees Jansen’s study reveals how agrochemical firms rely on corporate ‘knowledge work’ as a fundamental driver of capital accumulation, rather than as mere peripheral public relations. This knowledge work ranges from internal scientific experiments to strategic doubt manufacturing. Analysing Syngenta’s decades-long defence of the highly controversial herbicide paraquat, the paper demonstrates how industry-backed research, regulatory standard-setting, and selective ignorance work in tandem to keep hazardous chemicals profitable on store shelves despite severe health and environmental critiques.

Open access, Journal of Agrarian Change: https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.70115

Anna Roodhof successfully defends her PhD on food forestry and economic viability

Posted on by
Reply

We are proud to announce that on October 9, 2026 our colleague dr. Anna Roodhof successfully defended her dissertation titled: “Reclaiming economic viability through food forestry: Entanglements of discourse, governance and practice”, and supervised by Esther Veen, Lucie Sovová and Han Wiskerke.

In her dissertation Anna studies under which conditions food forests in the Netherlands are economically viable. Grounded in diverse economies thinking, Anna adopts a relational, multispecies and more-than-monetary conceptualization of economic viability – thereby challenging what economic viability even means.

Clearly enjoying pushing the boundaries of what is possible during a PhD defense, Anna surprised and inspired us all with a song of her own making during her ‘layman’s talk’ – as if the defense isn’t challenging enough! For those PhDs still a little nervous at the thought of doing the defense, Anna showed us how you can have a lot of fun with it.

During the defense Anna, supported by paranymphs Marit Meijer and Lieke Moereels, engaged meaningfully with questions from her opponents: WUR’s Arjen Buijs and Chizu Sato, Giuseppe Feola from Utrecht University and Eric Sarmiento from Texas State University. The discussion covered theoretical questions such as the limitations of the diverse economies approach and the representation of more-than-human actors, as well as more applied concerns related to the governance of food system transformation and the risk of food alternatives becoming a market niche for the well-off.

As a Participatory Action Research project, the dissertations reflects Anna’s commitment to always search for opportunities not just to submerge herself into food forestry, but to also invite the community of food foresters in the Netherlands into her research process. She even did so until the very end of this beautiful day. The bites and drinks at the reception and afterparty were, you guessed it, all sourced from beautiful produce from food forest de Fruitproeverij – carefully prepared by Paulien and Laurens. A warm thank you for the great care given to Anna, her family, friends and colleagues.

Congratulations Anna on your monumental achievement! Though we have to miss you here at RSO, we are happy you will not stray away too far from us when you pick a new, exciting position at Wageningen Environmental Research.

Love,
Your colleagues at the Rural Sociology Group

Pictures were taken by Sven Menschel (Menschel Applied Photographic Art – https://menschel-photo.com)

New EU project ROOTED is starting!

Posted on by

Last month, the ROOTED consortium gathered in Brussels and Lille for its first in-person meeting, bringing together researchers, community kitchens, NGOs, food producers and public authorities to explore how Landed Community Kitchens (LCKs) can help transform Europe’s food systems.

LCKs combine access to food, social inclusion and community building. By connecting local food production with neighbourhood spaces where people can access, prepare and share food, they offer new opportunities to build more inclusive, sustainable and resilient food systems.

Through 8 Living Labs and a network of 50+ kitchens across 20 cities and 10 countries, ROOTED will explore how these initiatives can grow and become a lasting part of Europe’s food infrastructure.

The kick-off included visits to community kitchens, food gardens, social groceries and cooperative supermarkets, meeting the organisations already connecting food, community and place.

Together, the consortium will explore key questions:
>> How can community kitchens connect local food production, access to nutritious food and social support?
>> What policies, partnerships and governance models can help them thrive?
>> How can place-based approaches address structural inequalities in our food systems?

A big thank you to all the hosting partners and organisations who welcomed us and shared their inspiring work. And thanks to all ROOTED partners for bringing their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to this journey!

Read more about this project and it’s kick-off.

Picture: ROOTED, Eutropian

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

Posted on by

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.