Rise and growth of neo-rurality in Campania region (Italy): social innovation practices and connective branding for rural development

Our study focuses on the case of neo-rurality (Ferraresi, 2013) in Campania region (southern Italy) and how neo-rural farmers propose a novel combination of economics (Fonte & Cucco, 2015) and social practices (Bock, 2012) in alternative food system. Producers promote a combined approach to local development towards increasing quality of food, cultural and environmental resources of territory. During last few years neo-rural farmers started a reflexive process proposing an alternative way of producing and marketing. They are not simply anti-consumerist (Humphrey, 2010) but they rather articulate differently visions of market relations, productive practices and processes of value creation (Sassatelli, 2015). They measure and communicate the value of high-quality local food in a different way, bridging the gap between supply and demand in market through collaboration and alternative food-chains. This process creates spaces where producers meet consumers. This is in line with recent studies on how agriculture and rural life have changed their role in post-modern society. According to our findings, we conclude that neo-rural farmers are promoting a collective narrative, based on a form of collaboration that recalls the connective action strategy (Bennet, Segerberg 2012). Neo-rurality becomes a narrative-based branding action, which puts together ideals, values and marketing behaviors. \u201cNeo-rurality\u201d is a brand through which they construct an ethical and disintermediated approach to the food market, where products' value is not defined only by economic aspects, but is also founded on human and social components (Arvidsson, Peitersen, 2013)