Empirical evidence has shown that goats are of significance in marginalised, poor, and rural economies and this information has been well documented in scholarly research. Despite its importance and potential contribution, goat farming remains underutilised and undeveloped in the rural economy - particularly in South Africa. Developmental intervention has focused on improving productivity with minimal effort aimed at the integration of key role players in the value chain, and even less emphasis on improving farmers' attitudes. The largest goat population in South Africa is found in the Northern Cape where there is great potential to be realised for goat farming. The main objective of this study was to identify supply side (production) factors constraining subsistence goat production in South Africa, with the view of identifying key actors to establish an innovation platform through vertical integration. By transforming the subsistence farming orientation of goat farmers into a commercial (market) orientation, the welfare of communities can be improved through the commercialisation of smallscale goat farmers. Studies highlight the need to enhance goat production beyond subsistence goat rearing and towards commercialisation through access to markets, veterinary services, credit facilities, and government support. Furthermore, a focus on market development, value chain integration and innovation platforms can improve the efficiency of the goat farming sector. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on goat farming in South Africa and offers an innovation platform to foster partnerships among the actors along the value chain, creating an enabling environment for the easy flow of market information and infrastructure development. A praxis model is incorporated into this research. This takes the form of a business model and is provided in Appendix B as a practical way of applying the knowledge gathered in this research.

The wood supply system is a dynamic and complex structure. Traditionally, key components of the system have been treated as stand-alone entities with very little regard to the performance of the overall system. The central component, the logging contractor, is usually viewed as a service provider and largely ignored. A value chain approach is an excellent tool to examine the primary stakeholders’ contributions to the wood supply system. The value chain for forestry usually extends completely across the physical and political landscape, reaching into the most geographically and economically remote locations. A conceptual model was developed depicting the wood supply system value chain and the socioeconomic impacts of a logging firm’s cash flow contributions. Financial and production data were obtained from 93 independent logging firms from 18 Eastern US States. This analysis provided 690 business years of data, beginning with the 1988 financial year and concluding in 2005. In addition, three impact scenarios were modeled using Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN) software to understand the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The first model addressed the economic impacts of a timber deficit from the landowner’s perspective, the second introduced a disruption in the wood supply system from a logger’s position in the value chain, and the third attempted to analyze the impacts of a mill closure. Data analysis showed that operating costs have increased drastically during the study period with payment for services failing to provide adequate compensation to contractors. Furthermore, no significant per unit cost incentive was found to justify expanding the scale of operation. Smaller-volume producers appeared to have more ability to generate a profit on operations than their larger-volume counterparts. Cash flow analyses revealed much of the economic activity generated by the wood supply system remained in the local community. Some deficiencies of IMPLAN appeared upon examining the models introduced in this research. Many rural communities across the Southeastern US are heavily dependent on production forestry. When the logging industry suffers, so does the entire economy of these regions. It is important to ensure that the socioeconomic impacts of the wood supply value chain for such communities remains intact.

Today, Canada’s population is over 80 percent urban as exemplified by our growing cities. As a result of outmigration to urban centres, many rural economies in Atlantic Canada are struggling socially and economically. This research examines the redevelopment of rural communities through a lens of continuous cycles of adaptive change - based on Holling’s ecological concept of panarchy. By drawing on the characteristics of ecological communities, this panarchy-based theoretical framework uses a novel approach to reflect on a community’s position along its own adaptive change cycle and identifies leverage points where policy intervention may be most advantageous. This research also examines the practical application of this framework via interviews with economic development officials. Overall, the results of this research suggest that the panarchy-based framework offers constructive guidance to policy makers seeking to push or pull rural communities into positions of higher resiliency and to expedite times of economic uncertainty.