Southern Rural Sociological Association

Call for Abstracts – Special Issue on Local and Regional Food Systems

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Local and regional food systems have received renewed interest in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated supply chain problems along with concerns over extreme weather events and farm community vitality. Furthermore, there have been efforts in the southern region of the U.S. to build local and regional food systems as part of development efforts across the rural-urban continuum. Thus, there is a need for scholarship on these and related issues to expand knowledge, guide practice, and inform policy.

In partnership with the SERA-47 Local and Regional Food Systems Multistate Project and the Southern Rural Development Center, the Journal of Rural Social Sciences will publish a special issue on these and related topics. Submissions are welcomed and encouraged from a wide range of disciplines, as this is a multidisciplinary field of work. Authors should keep in mind the general social science (sociology, economics, geography, etc.) and Extension professional audiences, as they are the most common readers of this publication. Those writing from other disciplines can use this special issue as an avenue to present their work to these scholars and practitioners to advance multidisciplinary engagement. Manuscripts on general topics related to local and regional food systems are invited, especially those addressing original research, systematic research reviews, and development practices, including outreach and education. Papers should include some connection to/focus on the southern region of the U.S.

Authors are asked to submit abstracts (not to exceed 150 words) by November 7, 2025 for consideration. Following initial desk-review by the special issue editorial team, authors of selected abstracts will be invited to submit full-length papers (not to exceed 9,000 words) by January 23, 2026. After a second desk-review, selected manuscripts will be sent out for the journal’s regular double-blind peer review process.

The Local and Regional Food Systems Special Issue Editors include: John J. Green and Grace Langford (Southern Rural Development Center/Mississippi State University), Kenrett Jefferson-Moore (North Carolina A&T State University), Kaylee South (Virginia Tech), and Courtney Brown (Oklahoma State University).

Abstracts should be submitted as Word document in an email attachment to John J. Green, JRSS Editor (jjg8@msstate.edu) and Elizabeth Sweeney, JRSS Managing Editor (eyoung@go.olemiss.edu).

The Journal of Rural Social Sciences (JRSS) is the official peer-reviewed publication of the Southern Rural Sociological Association, a member of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists. It is an open-access journal published in collaboration with Clemson University Press. For more information, including style requirements and submission processes, visit: https://open.clemson.edu/jrss/.

It is also recommended that authors submit an abstract for presentation of their work at the annual meeting of the Southern Rural Sociological Association, to be held jointly with the Southern Association of Agriculture Sciences, February 1-2, 2026 in Louisville, KY. Abstracts are due to the SRSA by November 21, 2026, but authors submitting to the special issue should go ahead and submit their conference abstract at the same time as submitting for this special issue of the Journal of Rural Social Sciences (November 7). (Annual Meeting | Southern Rural Sociological Association)