ARC LINKAGE PROJECT (LP0990297)
Rural Adjustment or Structural Transformation? Discovering the Destinations of Exiting Farm Families

Summary

Prolonged drought is inducing increasing numbers of farm households to leave the land. Yet little is known about the longer-term destinations of exiting farmers. Do they stay in regional areas and take up work in agriculture-related industries, or do they find jobs in growing sectors of the economy? Is the adjustment process restricted to rural industries and communities or is it producing structural change across the economy? This project has been developed with the Victorian Government to fill this gap in knowledge. It will track the outcomes of the farm adjustment process over five years to identify durable policy strategies that will alleviate rural hardships while at the same time promoting the state’s structural adjustment objectives.

The findings of this research will assist local, State and Federal governments to intervene effectively in processes of regional and rural structural adjustment. It will generate economic benefits by recommending policies that facilitate growth and promote sustainable rural businesses while at the same time sheltering rural communities and individual households from adverse outcomes. It will contribute social benefits by identifying policies to improve the outcomes of rural adjustment for families and individuals. The new knowledge it provides will inform the politics of regional change and remove some of the uncertainties that currently impede the implementation of rural adjustment policies

The Project

Industry Partner

• Department of Treasury and Finance, Victorian Government

Chief Investigators

• Dr Sally Weller, Senior Research Fellow, CSES,  Victoria University
• Associate Professor William N Pritchard, Division of Geography, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney
• Professor Margaret Alston, School of Primary Health Care, Monash University
• Professor Michael J Webber, School of Social and Environmental Enquiry, The University of Melbourne

PhD Students

• Ms. Josephine Clarke (Monash University)
• Ms. Erin Smith (University of Sydney)