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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Yumi Kato (Isaka), Professor Guy Garrod, Dr Carmen Hubbard
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
This paper explores how social networks and government institutions work in farmland markets, with a special focus on the role of brokers. For this purpose, New Economic Sociology (NES) is applied and compared to New Institutional Economics (NIE) to build a theoretical framework, and a Social Network Analysis is adopted to case studies. Two Parish case studies were conducted in Scotland, where dynamic land pattern changes can be observed. It allowed for the comparison of one parish dominated by tenancies in the land market with private agents involved, with another parish where a joint venture unfolds. After the entire land market network for each parish was identified, the connections between actors were traced through in-depth interviews. The paper examines the role of trust in farmland markets embedded in informal social networks which consist of varieties of actors (e.g., tenant, private agents, landowner and business partner). Results highlight how trust as social capital works in land transactions, in addition to the economic impacts (e.g., price, rent and transaction costs). The findings support the NES theory and suggests the importance of trust in designing governmental schemes that could support and encourage the development of farmland markets in the future.
Author(s): Kato Isake Y, Garrod G, Hubbard C
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Rural Studies
Year: 2026
Volume: 123
Print publication date: 01/03/2026
Online publication date: 23/02/2026
Acceptance date: 15/02/2026
Date deposited: 13/03/2026
ISSN (print): 0743-0167
ISSN (electronic): 1873-1392
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104075
DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2026.104075
Data Access Statement: The data that has been used is confidential.
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