Rethinking the links between farm modernisation, rural development and resilience in a world of increasing demands and finite resources

The Conceptual Framework aims primarily at providing an overview of the discourse around the ‘modernisation’ of agriculture, so all project partners agree on what we need to RETHINK. However, it is not meant to be a comprehensive review of the (very large and very diverse) literature on agricultural modernisation. Rather, we have selected themes and references that seem to be particularly relevant to the work in RETHINK. The Conceptual Framework is closely linked to the Analytical Framework, which focuses on the four themes for the international comparative analysis. The ‘case study questions’ are included to help partners to position their case study within this broader discourse. All project partners were invited to suggest additional issues and references to be included, especially relevant publications by their team members. We particularly want to thank Lone Kristensen, Jorgen Primdahl, Sandra Sūmane, Tālis Tisenkopfs, Gunilla Olsson, Anders Wastfelt and Romualdas Zemeckis for their constructive input.