Alternative and Virtual Rurality: Agriculture and The Countryside as Embodied in American Imagination

Affection for agrarian livelihoods and rural and small‐town environments has long been held by residents in many of the world's “more developed” countries. Although the rural proportion of the U.S. population has shrunk to a minority over the last century, fondness for rurality continues to manifest itself in a number of ways. Attachment to the rural ideal or rural idyll can be considered as attachment to the idea of a type of place, rather than specific place attachment. Based on literature, field observation, computer searches, and data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture, connections to idea(l)s of rurality apparent in popular culture are identified and illustrated. These include rural and agricultural tourism, small‐scale farming and large‐lot rural subdivisions, urban agriculture, farmers’ markets and community‐supported agriculture, creation of housing developments around farm activities, and rural‐named housing and business developments. Idealized relationships with rurality call upon health and well‐being, connecting to nature, aesthetics, privacy, and respect and nostalgia for rural livelihoods.