Roundup: July 25, 2025
A regular feature of our growing online journal, The Rural Review, these roundup posts collect notable recent research, analysis, and related rural news and commentary. Feel free to send suggestions for future collections to us here. And, more details on other opportunities to contribute to The Rural Review can be found here.
Recent Publications
Nathan Aaron Kerrigan (Law, Social and Criminal Justice, Birmingham City University, UK) published Rural Being: Merleau-Ponty, Embodied Perception and Intersectionality UK in Sociologia Ruralis. The article argues that established practices of theorizing rural intersectionality ought to better foreground rurality as it is experienced through bodily habituations and orientations.
Urbanizing Agriculture, Additionality, and the Adoption of Agricultural Conservation Practices, was published by Junyi Hua (Finance, City University of Macau, China), H. Allen Klaiber (Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, Ohio State University), and Douglas H. Wrenn (Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, Penn State University) in Land Economics. The article shares research into how urban expansion around farms may impact farmers’ receptiveness to best management practices and reduce the impact of conservation funding incentives compared to rural areas.
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis published Intersection of Race and Rurality with Health Care-Associated Infections and Subsequent Outcomes in JAMA Network Open. Their cohort study identified hospitalized patients by race and rurality status across three US hospitals and identified inequities related to race and rurality in patient adverse health outcomes.
News & Commentary
The New York Times reported on the resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachian mining communities. Considered an “old man’s disease” and largely avoidable by the 1990s, black lung disease has risen sharply in young minors due to current mining practices.
An article in The Conversation explored how rural housing instability is exacerbated by family land passed down informally among generations of heirs without clear wills or deeds. Any heir can sell their share, risking loss of the entire estate.
Offrange (formerly Ambrook Research) published an article on the enduring popularity and uncertain future of glyphosate—the herbicide in Roundup. Chemical company Bayer has indicated it might cease production of the weed killer due to ongoing litigation claiming exposure to Roundup is linked to cancers.
An experienced corn specialist updated his exposé on the secrets of “(corn) sex in the cornfield”—the tasseling and pollination process. Available as part of Purdue University’s Agriculture and Natural Resource Extension resource hub, the article details the intricate process.
Events & Recordings
Radically Rural is hosting a virtual roundtable on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, spotlighting efforts to combat voting information deserts in rural North Carolina. Find out about how one county created a free, nonpartisan resource and explore its potential as a model for other communities by registering here.
The Idaho Department of Labor posted part two of its webinar series on the state’s rural economies, part of an effort to create an updated profile of rural Idaho. Labor economists discussed the state’s workforce composition, housing affordability, tourism, and other factors shaping economic life in Idaho.
