AES presidential address, 2021: Policy analysis for rural resilience—Expanding the toolkit

I reflect on the progress of policy analysis for sustainable rural development over my professional lifetime, and the implications for the future. In so doing, I emphasise the distinction between policy analysis and policy evaluation, and the importance of enabling and facilitating transformation to improve resilience in a time of climate crisis; both of which highlight the need for more inclusive analytical tools, concepts and approaches. The central focus is on the development of a conceptual framework which is dynamic, interactive and holistically systemic, elucidated through, especially, comparative case studies and social‐ecological concepts. Recognition of the diversity of contexts and the heterogeneity of individual characters embedded in institutional cultures, which are of our own making, leads to a much richer and more resilient conceptual framework for analysis and effective diagnosis than the abstract and severely reductive textbook economic tradition. Future research priorities for agricultural economists are suggested: in new rural governance, mapping food systems, and enhanced performance assessment for farming businesses. In that context, a call is made for increased labour and skills in future UK farming.