Reflections on the 21st Rural Entrepreneurship Conference

The Rural Entrepreneurship Conference has been running for over twenty years and aims to gather a range of national and international academics, practitioners, public servants, and other stakeholders who, while developing networks, discuss different aspects of rural development and share new knowledge informing research, policy, and practice.   

This year, Leeds University Business School hosted the event - run by myself and Dr Deema Refai from the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Studies - from the 5^th to the 7th June.  

In its 21st year, we attracted over 50 delegates from 21 different countries. The event highlighted important issues in rural regions globally, with participants from the UK, USA, Chile, Germany, Oman, Egypt, and Malaysia (amongst many others), demonstrating the international appeal of the conference.  

Delegates and speakers discussed current research exploring issues facing stakeholders in rural regions, discussing the important role of rural entrepreneurship in delivering economic, environmental, and social contributions and helping make progress towards the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Conference theme: Empowering rural futures in a Net Zero era 

The theme of this two-and-a-half-day event focused on ‘Empowering Rural Futures: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential in a Net Zero Era.’ It provided a platform for academics and practitioners to discuss the pressing issues and opportunities facing entrepreneurs in rural areas.  

The focus this year was on rural entrepreneurship in the context of net zero initiatives, understanding the barriers and opportunities for rural entrepreneurs during this particularly uncertain period. Delegates spoke of the constraints to rural entrepreneurship and identified important policy recommendations driven by their academic research aimed at providing a more conducive rural economy.  

 

Key sessions and themes 

Key sessions covered a wide range of topics, including: 

Net Zero farming: agricultural policy in a very uncertain future   

 

Professor Gerard McElwee delivered the opening keynote, beginning the presentation with a discussion around the global perspectives of agricultural policy before narrowing in on the UK focus. Here he discussed the key promises that were made to UK farmers in the agricultural transition plan, gave an overview of contemporary problems facing farmers right now, unpacked some key policy documents, and provided advice on how academics can use their work to influence policy-making in this area. 

Brexit, Net Zero, and UK farming: impact and opportunities 

 

I then gave a talk on my recent project on constrained rural entrepreneurship, which is funded by Leeds University Business School’s Impact and Engagement Support Fund. My talk was structured around my upcoming report, providing some important context for the audience in the room on the contemporary challenges facing UK farmers and the opportunities that can be leveraged by farmers, and provided some policy recommendations from the work. 

These are: (1) calling for the enhancement of social sustainability within replacement subsidy schemes, (2) a more simplified and accurate way to allow farmers to understand the impact of their greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture with stronger support infrastructure in place from the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and (3) greater development of rural regions in which farm businesses are located, ensuring farmers have access to an array of necessary resources to support farm entrepreneurial activities, such as small red meat abattoirs, machinery repair specialists, business advice, and mental health support groups. 

Rural entrepreneurship in the Arab world  

 

Dr Deema Refai gave a talk on rural entrepreneurship in the Arab world. As the conference attracted a range of delegates from these regions, this was particularly welcome.  

The geographical and topographical elements of these rural contexts were explored, alongside other issues such as the unequal distribution of natural resources, issues located at the water-energy-food nexus, geopolitical issues, and the important role of rural enterprise and meeting the SDGs in these regions.  

Deema referenced a recently published article on sustainable rural entrepreneurship in Jordan. Rural entrepreneurship in these developing contexts, particularly around its role in combating climate change and meeting the SDGs, is severely underdeveloped. 

New market opportunities for farmers  

 

The final keynote speaker was Dr Awal Fuesini, Senior Halal Sector Manager at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. Awal highlighted the importance of farming’s contributions to new and alternative markets.  

He highlighted the economic contributions of UK farmers to the Halal sector, at approximately £1.7 billion out of an overall UK total of £11 billion, equating to about 15% of the overall value. The importance of halal slaughter practices in the UK sheep farming context was discussed. In the domestic market, over 70% of sheep are processed by halal abattoirs. The importance of Muslim communities in consuming products that would otherwise be processed and sent to the pet industry, such as animal heads, feet, and tripe, was emphasised.  

He then discussed the importance of the export market. A key message was that the exact same product in one market can be sold at a widely different price in another: e.g., in Europe, the meat can be sold for around £6,000 per tonne, whereas in other markets such as Qatar, the exact same product can be sold for almost £20,000 per tonne. 

Publishing rural enterprise research  

The conference closed with a discussion between delegates on publishing rural enterprise research. Here we discussed how to identify suitable journals for publishing research, institutional requirements and pressures for publishing in certain journals, the ways researchers can disseminate research (articles, reports, books, blog posts, media), networks that have been useful, and some words of advice in helping to build a successful academic career. 

Delegate presentations 

In addition to the keynote sessions, there were 50 individual delegate presentations focusing on various themes which took place each of the days, including: 

• Opportunities and challenges for rural development 

• Resilience of rural businesses in times of crisis 

• Technology, digitalisation, and innovation in the rural economy 

• Farming, land-based entrepreneurship, and the natural environment 

• Tourism, heritage, and culture in the rural economy 

• Migration and rural development 

• Communities and land 

• Rural policy, support, and investments in rural entrepreneurship 

• Regional and international dimensions of rural entrepreneurship 

• Entrepreneurship and public service co-production 

• Social entrepreneurship and community enterprise 

• Social innovation and sustainable development 

• Innovative approaches to rural entrepreneurship research and practice 

• Critical perspectives and approaches informing rural theory 

We heard from researchers at a range of different stages, such as PhD students, early career, mid-career, and established academics. Over the course of the days, delegates networked and got to see much of our beautiful campus. Next year's Rural Entrepreneurship Conference was announced at the gala dinner: Bangor University.  

Here’s to twenty more years of rural entrepreneurship research!