Rural Labor Research Articles

From tourists to essential workers: The multifaceted presence of backpackers in rural Queensland, Australia

Although there is notable scholarship on backpackers and their part in tourism cultures, there has been little reflection on their status as long term essential workers in rural areas and what this means for the communities who receive them. We address this gap by investigating the evolution of Australia's Working Holiday Maker program and how it has shaped the presence of backpackers in farming communities. Contemporary backpacking in Australia now involves a culturally and ethnically diverse cohort, which has become essential for farming communities' economic and cultural livelihoods. We argue that the ongoing modifications to the visa program have transformed the presence of backpackers in farming towns, from highly transient tourists to essential workers who may stay for longer periods as temporary migrants, and this has transformed the people and places that host them. Through the lens of mobilities, we outline useful lessons and insights from this example of a backpacker visa, which are relevant for future research and debates around rural livelihoods, labour migration, and farming communities.

Digital development and rural financial inclusion: Evidence from China

Digital technology has profoundly influenced the development of the financial sector and is of great importance to financial inclusion. This paper employs sub-provincial panel data from 2005 to 2019 to analyse the impact mechanisms of digital economy development on rural finance, exploring the impact of digitalization and overall digital literacy on rural finance. Our findings verify that digitalization has a positive contribution to rural finance, while digital literacy has a significant inhibitory effect on rural finance. This still holds after a series of robustness tests. Subsequent mechanism analysis reveals that digital technology benefits rural finance by optimizing industrial structure and promoting technological progress, while digital literacy accelerates urbanization, leading to the loss of rural labor and thus inhibiting rural finance. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the role of the digital economy in rural inclusive finance is more pronounced in the eastern and central regions. Additionally, higher levels of human capital, economic development, entrepreneurship, and digitalization will further enhance the impact of the digital economy on rural inclusive finance. This study offers a new pathway for the realization of financial inclusion and a theoretical reference for financial development in rural areas. Our empirical analysis also provides new perspectives and insights for the formulation of policies and measures to coordinate the development of various elements of digital finance and cope with the impact of the digital economy on rural finance.

How does temperature affect rural income: Channels and implication of adaptation

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of daily temperature variations on rural income per capita and evaluates the effectiveness of adaptation based on China's county‐level socioeconomic statistics and household survey data. We find that high temperatures have significant negative effects on rural income per capita. Relative to the physically comfortable reference temperature between 10 and 15°C, an additional day with a daily average temperature above 30°C reduces the rural income per capita by 0.12% in the year. Evidence from micro‐data indicates that agricultural income of rural households is sensitive to high temperatures relative to other components of household income, such as wage income and transfer income, which leads to a reallocation of rural laborers across sectors. In addition, we indeed find some evidence of adaptation, but we conclude that the current adaptation pattern of rural households probably magnifies the threat of future climate change to China's agricultural sector.

The adoption of cotton combine services and farm technical efficiency: evidence from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

PurposeThis study examines the adoption of cotton combine services and its impact on farm technical efficiency in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The research aims to determine whether mechanisation influences productivity and economic output at the farm level.Design/methodology/approachUsing farm-level data from 511 cotton growers in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan collected in 2019, this study employs stochastic frontier analysis to measure potential output and technical inefficiency among cotton farmers. The analysis includes a translog functional form to account for the use of cotton combine services and other farming variables.FindingsThe findings indicate that while mechanisation through cotton combines can potentially increase technical efficiency by optimising the harvesting process, the benefits are not uniformly experienced across all farms. Variations in farm characteristics, such as labour availability and existing agricultural practices, influence the efficiency of technology adoption. Institutional factors and historical legacies also play a significant role in the adoption and impact of mechanisation.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on cross-sectional data from 2019, and the findings may not capture longer-term trends or recent developments in mechanisation policies in the study countries.Originality/valueThis research provides a nuanced understanding of the conditions under which cotton combine services enhance or hinder technical efficiency. It highlights the necessity for carefully tailored policies for mechanisation, especially in Uzbekistan, where rural labour is abundant and predominantly female. The study contributes to the broader discourse on agricultural mechanisation in developing countries by focusing on the specific context of Central Asia.

The Impact of Long-Term Security on the Return of Rural Labor Force: Evidence from Rural China

Since the rural revival, the return of the rural labor force has become a trend. Different ways of returning to the rural labor force contain different policy implications. Based on the data of 8209 households in the China Labor Force Dynamic Survey, the probit model was used to explore the impact of long-term security in urban and rural areas on different return ways of the rural labor force. The results show that: (1) 18% of farmers choose to return, of which 3% and 10% choose active return and passive return, respectively, and 10% and 6% choose long-term return and short-term return, respectively. (2) The improvement in urban long-term security will inhibit the return of farmers (including active return and passive return), and the improvement in rural long-term security will promote farmers’ return behavior (including active return, passive return, long-term return, and short-term return). (3) The improvement of rural long-term security will promote the return of the first and second generations of rural households (including active return, passive return, long-term return, and short-term return), and the improvement of urban long-term security will restrain the return of the first generation of rural households (including active returns).

Key Technologies for Autonomous Fruit- and Vegetable-Picking Robots: A Review

With the rapid pace of urbanization, a significant number of rural laborers are migrating to cities, leading to a severe shortage of agricultural labor. Consequently, the modernization of agriculture has become a priority. Autonomous picking robots represent a crucial component of agricultural technological innovation, and their development drives progress across the entire agricultural sector. This paper reviews the current state of research on fruit- and vegetable-picking robots, focusing on key aspects such as the vision system sensors, target detection, localization, and the design of end-effectors. Commonly used target recognition algorithms, including image segmentation and deep learning-based neural networks, are introduced. The challenges of target recognition and localization in complex environments, such as those caused by branch and leaf obstruction, fruit overlap, and oscillation in natural settings, are analyzed. Additionally, the characteristics of the three main types of end-effectors—clamping, suction, and cutting—are discussed, along with an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of each design. The limitations of current agricultural picking robots are summarized, taking into account the complexity of operation, research and development costs, as well as the efficiency and speed of picking. Finally, the paper offers a perspective on the future of picking robots, addressing aspects such as environmental adaptability, functional diversity, innovation and technological convergence, as well as policy and farm management.

Knowledge graph of agricultural engineering technology based on large language model

Agriculture is an industry that has evolved alongside human evolution and has faithfully fulfilled its core mission of food supply. With the reduction of rural labor, the progress of artificial intelligence and the development of Internet of Things technology, it is hoped that the efficiency and productivity of the agricultural industry can be improved. Recently, with the development of information and intelligent technology, agricultural production and management have been significantly enhanced. However, there is still a considerable challenge in effectively integrating the vast amount of fragmented information for downstream applications. An agricultural knowledge graph (AGKG) will serve as the foundation for achieving these goals. Knowledge graphs can be general or domain-specific, and are the basis for many applications, such as search engines, online question-and-answer services, and knowledge inference. Therefore, there are many knowledge graphs, including Wikidata and DBpedia, for accessing structured knowledge. Although some general knowledge graphs contain some entities and relationships related to agriculture, there are no domain-specific knowledge graphs specifically for agricultural applications. Therefore, this paper proposes an agricultural knowledge graph (AGKG) for automatically integrating large amounts of agricultural data from the Internet. By applying natural language processing and deep learning technologies, AGKG can automatically identify agricultural entities from unstructured text and connect them to form a knowledge graph. In addition, we have described the typical scenarios of our AGKG and validated it through real-world applications such as agricultural entity retrieval and agricultural question-answering.

Impact of increasing the supply of rural finance on agricultural total factor productivity: Evidence from China

We examine the impact of increasing the supply of rural finance on agricultural total factor productivity through the village banking program in China. Using county-level panel data spanning from 2000 to 2016, we apply the staggered difference-in-differences model and find a significant improvement in agricultural total factor productivity associated with the village banking program. Further mechanism analysis shows that the village banking program contributes to the improvement in agricultural total factor productivity by facilitating the migration of rural labor to urban areas and agricultural mechanization. Moreover, this effect is more pronounced in western, northern and low-income counties. This study shows that increasing the supply of rural finance can increase agricultural productivity.

Residential Hollowing and Its Drivers in Traditional Chinese Villages: Case Study of Wentang Village, Anhui Province

This study investigates the vacancy of traditional dwellings in Wentang Village, Qimen County, Anhui Province, China, and explores the underlying mechanisms driving the phenomenon of hollowing out. Through field surveys, interviews, and data analysis, the study reveals that the vacancy rate of traditional dwellings in Wentang Village is as high as 73%, compared to a significantly lower rate of 18.4% for newly built houses. The findings indicate that the hollowing out of the village is driven by factors such as urbanization, shifts in agricultural production methods, and changes in family structures. The study concludes that residents have experienced a phased migration from traditional dwellings to newly built houses and subsequently to urban residences. This transition is accompanied by increasing connections between villages and cities, as well as a decline in agricultural activities, which is pushing rural labor towards non-agricultural employment.

Land certification, tenure security and off-farm employment: Evidence from China

China’s new round of nationwide land certification program (LCP) provides a good natural experiment to investigate whether land certification can promote rural labor off-farm employment. However, existing research overlooks that the new round of LCP is a re-certification program based on the previous round. This paper proposes that incorporating the ex-ante property rights of households is crucial. Using micro survey data from China, this paper empirically examined the impact of the new round of LCP on off-farm employment for households with different ex-ante property rights through a multi-period DID model. The results indicate that the new round of LCP significantly increased the off-farm employment size for households without old land certificates. However, there was no significant impact on households with old land certificates. The ambitious new round of land tenure reform can only enhance the tenure stability for those households that previously lacked land certificates.

Obstetric outcomes among rural parturients across US urban and rural hospitals.

The objective of this study is to evaluate severe maternal morbidity (SMM) of rural parturients delivering at rural compared to urban hospitals in the US. We identified patients aged 18-40 years in a multi-institutional claims database who lived in a rural ZIP code and delivered at a rural or urban hospital between October-December of 2015 and October-December of 2022. The primary outcome was SMM, and the secondary outcome was SMM exclusive of blood transfusions. We combined exact ZIP code matching and propensity score matching to compare SMM risk among patients living in the same rural community and delivering in urban as compared to rural hospitals. A total of 214 296 patients from 571 ZIP codes were identified, including 47% delivering at rural facilities and 53% delivering at urban facilities. The SMM rate was 1.1% (0.3% excluding blood transfusions). After matching, urban versus rural delivery was associated with increased odds of SMM other than blood transfusion (odds ratio 2.44; 95% confidence interval 1.81-3.28), but was not associated with differences in risk of any SMM. There was no evidence of reduced SMM for rural patients delivering at an urban rather than a rural hospital. SMM exclusive of blood transfusions was increased for rural patients delivering at urban hospitals after matching on ZIP code and predictors of urban hospital delivery. Our findings undermine the assumption that delivery at a rural facility has inherently greater risks relative to delivery at an urban facility. As some health systems face challenges to maintain rural labor and delivery units, patient safety must be considered if confronted with the possibility of unit or hospital closures.

Effects of environment and human activities on rice planting suitability based on MaxEnt model.

Rice is one of the major food crops, and the study of suitable planting areas for rice plays an important role in improving rice yield and optimizing the production layout. This study used Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model to simulate and predict the distribution of suitable rice planting areas in China from 1981 to 2020 by combining the climate, soil, and human activities, analyzed the spatial and temporal changes of suitable rice planting areas in China, and determined the main factors affecting rice planting suitability. The results indicated that the main factors influencing the distribution of suitable planting areas for rice in China were gross domestic product (GDP), population density (Pop), and annual sunshine duration (Sun), with human activities playing a dominant role. The high suitable planting areas of rice were mainly distributed in Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Guangdong, southeastern Sichuan and western Guizhou. The total suitable planting areas for rice were 346.00 × 104 km2, 345.66 × 104 km2, 347.01 × 104 km2, and 355.57 × 104 km2 from 1981 to 1990, 1991 to 2000, 2001 to 2010 and 2011 to 2020, respectively. With the passage of time, the area of unsuitable areas for rice gradually decreased, and the area of medium suitable areas increased, with large changes in the area of high- and low-suitable areas. Moreover, due to the transfer of a large number of rural laborers to the cities in recent years, the tension between people and land caused by the population explosion has led to the increasing impact of Pop on rice suitable areas and the relatively weakening of the impact of GDP on rice production interventions. The results can be used to provide scientific evidence for the management of rice cultivation and food production safety, with a view to reducing the impacts of climate change on agricultural production in the context of global climate change.

Why do rural youth migrate? Evidence from Colombia and Guatemala.

Migration, from rural to urban settings is a common phenomenon in Latin America, due to social, economic, political, and other factors. Young people in search of economic and educational opportunities, financial, and social stability, have been migrating to larger urban centers, thus crafting important shifts in rural labor, generational transfer, and domestic economies. Through a systematic literature review of scientific literature, and documents from public institutions and international organizations, published between 2012 and 2022, this article addresses rural-urban migration of youth in Colombia and Guatemala's cattle sector, particularly identifying (i) driving factors, (ii) their impacts on cattle farming, and (iii) public policies implemented to counteract prejudicial effects. Results show that unemployment, lack of educational opportunities, and insecurity are the main reasons for youth migration to cities or abroad, with Mexico, the United States, and Spain being the most common destinations. Additionally, impacts on the cattle sector include shortage of labor and a perfectible generational transfer, hindering the modernization of the industry and investments in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Despite various implemented public policies, the results are partial, and the issue of accelerated youth migration remains relevant. Consequently, without more effective measures adopted by national governments, the cattle sector will lag behind its regional and international competitors, deterring the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. As the main contribution of the study, the analysis of migration is highlighted based on its effects on a specific economic sector and not focused on its causes, as evidenced in a wide range of literature.

Rural Roads, Child Labor, and Schooling in Rural Ethiopia

New roads bring new opportunities including access to employment. However, new employment opportunities might encourage early school dropout and school absenteeism. We investigate the link between rural roads, children’s labor allocation, and educational outcomes by focusing on the recent Ethiopian road construction program. In the analysis, we combine household panel data with novel road network data. To address endogeneity concerns, we combine a difference-in-difference estimation model with a matching technique. Our findings consistently show that road access does not encourage school absenteeism or school dropouts to join the labor force. The findings remain consistent across gender and age groups.

Quantifying and categorizing development paths of poverty-elimination counties in China: Based on the perspective of population-land-industry

China has achieved the poverty reduction goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, contributing significantly to global poverty reduction. Despite extended efforts in poverty elimination, there is a lack of quantitative studies categorizing and comparing poverty-elimination counties (PECs) based on their processes. This study proposes an innovative framework for analyzing PECs’ development paths from the perspective of population-land-industry (PLI). We quantify the PLI matching degree of PECs in China during the critical phase of the battle against poverty through a multivariate matching model, classify PECs via K-means clustering according to the consistency in PLI matching degree evolution, and summarize the typical development patterns of PECs. Results indicate that the PLI matching degree of PECs in China increased substantially from 2015 to 2020, particularly in eastern areas, while the western region, including the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and southwestern Xinjiang, shows untapped potential for improvement. Five types of PECs are identified, with the majority (30.1%) showing sustained moderate PLI matching and a minority (9.6%) experiencing long-term PLI mismatch. Industry is the shortfall of various PECs, and effective strategies to facilitate all types of PECs include the development of emerging businesses and the expansion of secondary and tertiary industries. Additionally, enriching rural labor force and increasing farmland use efficiency are essential for optimal PLI matching and positive interaction, ultimately ensuring poverty elimination and sustainable development.

Rural labor migration and farmers’ arrangements of rice production systems in Central China: Insight from the intergenerational division of labor

Rice production is crucial for food security in China, and its relationship with rural labor migration has been studied extensively. Labor migration in rural China has taken new forms in recent years. There has been a discernible trend wherein adult children have started migrating to cities while their elderly parents return to villages to re-engage in on-farm work. The phenomenon has notably shaped the intergenerational division of labor (IDL) within households. However, it remains to be seen how farmers adjust their rice production systems in response to the IDL. The age of 60 years for employment injury insurance is the eligibility threshold for off-farm employment and is used to obtain a source of exogenous variation in the IDL. Based on a representative household survey of 1,752 rice farmers in the Hubei Province of Central China, our fuzzy regression discontinuity analysis reveals that farmers in IDL households are more likely to adopt ratoon rice (RR) than single cropping rice (SR) or double cropping rice (DR). The effect of the IDL varies under different levels of operational scales and specialized agricultural service availability. Further analysis suggests that farmers’ arrangements are associated with two potential mechanisms of downward intergenerational transfer. Monetary transfer for urban housing purchases increases RR in IDL households, and time transfer for intergenerational childcare significantly promotes SR in IDL households. This study enhances the understanding of the relationship between rural labor migration and rice production in China, providing a reference for adjusting rice production systems to ensure food security.

Research on the Interaction Mechanism between Land System Reform and Rural Population Flow: Europe (Taking Spain as an Example) and China

This paper examines the interaction between land policies and rural labor migration in China and Europe, highlighting how land reforms guide labor mobility and their impacts on land and social structures. In China, the Household Contract Responsibility System and land transfer policies have facilitated agricultural scale expansion and the urbanization of the rural labor force. Homestead reforms have further enhanced farmers’ asset liquidity. In Europe, using Spain as a case study, EU agricultural policies have spurred agricultural modernization, economic diversification, and intensive land use. These advancements benefitted from a mature land transfer market and increased non-agricultural employment opportunities. Both China and Europe face challenges of population aging and rural depopulation, necessitating improvements in land use efficiency, the balance of the scale, and the protection of farmers’ rights and interests. Europe addresses labor shortages through technology, mechanization, and cooperatives, while China employs land trusteeship, transfer platforms, and the “three rights separation” system to combat land abandonment and labor shortages. Future research should strengthen comparative studies between China and Europe, quantify interactive relationships, consider the impact of transnational labor mobility under globalization, explore policy innovations, and foster international cooperation to address demographic changes and agricultural labor shortages. Additionally, promoting sustainable land use and farmers’ rights, equalizing urban–rural public services, enhancing education and training, and improving the social security system are crucial for integrated urban–rural development.

Semantic Web Techniques for Extracting and Analyzing of Cropland Abandonment in Hilly Areas

Due to rising rural labor costs, farmland abandonment is common in China's hilly areas. Timely, accurate extraction of its spatiotemporal changes is crucial for sustainable farmland use. This study presents a novel approach for extracting abandoned cropland using NDVI time series from Sentinel-2 satellite images, exploiting the difference in vegetation phenology between abandoned and cultivated croplands. Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm was used to determine the similarity between NDVI time-series curves of different cropland types. The similarity metrics were used to find the optimal NDVI threshold for abandoned cropland through F1-score evaluation. The method's overall accuracy is 92.4%, higher than comparison methods at 84.60% and 75.6%. The approach captures year-round vegetation changes, expands time dimension data, and improves accuracy. Spatiotemporal analysis revealed decreased patch size, increased shape complexity, and more dispersed distribution of abandoned cropland over time. Major factors were proximity to settlements, roads, water bodies.

Практики хозяйствования народов Республики Хакасия в современных условиях

In today’s limited conditions of the Russian rural labour market, the role of economic activity of the population as an additional or even the main means of subsistence gains an increasing importance. This problem is relevant for people who live primarily in rural areas. The specifics of the existing management of local ethnic communities are established in the culture and presented in the form of ethno-economic structures. Today, their preservation and development is considered to be an opportunity for the growth of regional economies. To what extent have peoples preserved elements of the traditional economic structure at the present stage? The given study was conducted in the Republic of Khakassia, where the Khakass (the titular ethnic group of the republic), the Shors (small-numbered indigenous people), and the Russians (the ethnic majority in the region) live. The article compares the economic practices of these ethnic communities. The results of the study showed that indigenous peoples retain their orientation towards traditional types of economic activities. Khakassians are actively involved in livestock breeding. Compared to Russians and Shors, they have a more numerous and more varied livestock farmstead. Shors are focused primarily on wild capture activities; for many, it is the main type of employment. Russians are less involved in economic activities, but in villages where the Khakass population predominates, they keep a lot of livestock. They are less inclined to consider economic activity as a significant source. Khakassians are oriented towards economic activity; they mainly associate their life strategies with the village. Shors try to preserve traditional crafts, which are the most accessible source of subsistence for them in taiga conditions. In the current conditions, it is difficult to talk about the significant influence of the ethno-economic structures of indigenous peoples on the development of the economy of Khakassia, since these ethnic groups constitute a numerical minority on the territory of the republic.

Social network effect on land transfer willingness of the rural elders: Evidence from China

The elders in China’s rural areas are facing challenges in maintaining agricultural production due to the outflow of rural laborers. The Transfer of land could alleviate the burden of land-based livelihoods for rural elders, but their decisions regarding land transfer are influenced by their social networks within the context of Chinese rural society. This study investigates how social networks impact the willingness of rural elders to transfer land. Using survey data from 782 rural elders in 32 villages across 11 provinces in China, this paper applies multilinear and binary logistic regression models. The results indicate that the willingness of rural elders to transfer land is affected by their social neteork: (1) Internal network scale, network heterogeneity, and frequency of external network relationships have a significantly positive influence on rural elders’ willingness to transfer land, while frequency of internal network relationships has a significantly negative influence. (2) There are group differences in the above impacts, and these significant impacts occur only among male elderly individuals aged 60–69 years old or living in central and western regions. (3) Social networks primarily influence rural elders’ willingness to transfer land through three mechanisms: information consultation, interpersonal trust, and material resource acquisition. A larger internal social network scale, higher heterogeneity within the network, and more frequent interactions with members of external networks lead to greater access to useful information, higher levels of trust in others, increased material resources availability, and an increased likelihood of transferring land. These findings can inform government policies aimed at improving practices related to land transfers and old age security for rural elders.