Local – If Possible: How the Spatial Networking of Economic Relations amongst Farm Enterprises Aids Small Town Survival in Rural Australia
Author(s)
Pritchard, Bill
Argent, Neil
Baum, Scott
Bourke, Lisa
Martin, John
Mcmanus, Phil
Sorensen, Anthony
Walmsley, Jim
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2012
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Local - if possible: how the spatial networking of economic relations amongst farm enterprises aids small town survival in rural Australia, Regional Studies. Over recent decades, the tendency in developed countries has been the consolidation of farms into fewer and larger units, and a shifting of economic functions from smaller to larger population settlements. This paper uses data from face-to-face interviews with 115 Australian farmers in agriculture-dependent regions to investigate howthe spatial pattern of farmexpenditure affects these processes. It is concluded that in these spatial contexts, stability, attachment, and ...
View more >Local - if possible: how the spatial networking of economic relations amongst farm enterprises aids small town survival in rural Australia, Regional Studies. Over recent decades, the tendency in developed countries has been the consolidation of farms into fewer and larger units, and a shifting of economic functions from smaller to larger population settlements. This paper uses data from face-to-face interviews with 115 Australian farmers in agriculture-dependent regions to investigate howthe spatial pattern of farmexpenditure affects these processes. It is concluded that in these spatial contexts, stability, attachment, and reliance on 'the local' remain vital components in farm-town economic links, notwithstanding substantial adaptation by farmers to restructured economic and community circumstances. Such expenditures help sustain small towns, thus tempering judgements on rural decline.
View less >
View more >Local - if possible: how the spatial networking of economic relations amongst farm enterprises aids small town survival in rural Australia, Regional Studies. Over recent decades, the tendency in developed countries has been the consolidation of farms into fewer and larger units, and a shifting of economic functions from smaller to larger population settlements. This paper uses data from face-to-face interviews with 115 Australian farmers in agriculture-dependent regions to investigate howthe spatial pattern of farmexpenditure affects these processes. It is concluded that in these spatial contexts, stability, attachment, and reliance on 'the local' remain vital components in farm-town economic links, notwithstanding substantial adaptation by farmers to restructured economic and community circumstances. Such expenditures help sustain small towns, thus tempering judgements on rural decline.
View less >
Journal Title
Regional Studies
Volume
46
Issue
4
Subject
Urban and regional planning
Applied economics
Human geography