Dr Bill Pritchard is leading a session titled What place for agriculture (and what kind of agriculture) within multifunctional rural regions? and welcomes abstracts on the topic.

Multifunctional rural transitions (MRTs) occur when demand for high-amenity land use alternatives to agriculture overtakes the productivist potential of farming. They are typically associated with peri-urban fringes or coastal regions experiencing high in-migration flows. However, the processes of land use change attached to agriculture in these regions does not just happen. It is often associated with land use conflicts emanating from contestation over land and clashing visions of regional futures by different members of the population. Frequently, people moving into these regions can hold different values and priorities to existing residents. The reorganisation of agriculture in these regions, therefore, can be understood as a crucible for processes of wider socio-economic and cultural change. Scholarly and policy interest in the roles of agriculture in these spaces has increased in recent years because of debates on post-COVID rural landscapes that offer enhanced opportunities for people to work from home and embrace rural idylls. The fear is that accelerated population flows into multifunctional rural spaces may intensify a loss of farmland, impacting on local food systems and national food production. This session encourages papers from researchers with interests in these issues, either in Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand or elsewhere.

To submit your abstract for the session, please follow the abstract submission guidelines found here.