Corporate regenerative agriculture acts as a new form of rural governance. Four governance logics shape rural adaptation: compliance, experimentation, partnership, branding. Temporal and legitimacy gaps limit the depth of corporate regenerative transitions. “Legitimacy traps” explain why audit-driven systems sustain credibility without real change. True regeneration depends on co-adaptive governance and shared risk between firms and farmers.
Corporate regenerative agriculture programs are transforming the governance of sustainability in rural areas. Through contracts, incentive schemes, and monitoring systems, agrifood corporations now influence farming practices that were once guided by public institutions or local knowledge. While these initiatives claim to promote ecological regeneration, they also redefine how power, trust, and responsibility are distributed across the countryside.
Drawing on comparative analysis of forty-five corporate regenerative agriculture programs and thirty-four interviews with farmers, agronomists, and sustainability managers, this study examines how these programs are designed and governed, and how they affect rural autonomy and legitimacy. The analysis identifies four main governance logics: compliance, experimentation, partnership, and branding. Each reflects a different balance between corporate control and farmer participation, from audit-driven oversight to collaborative learning.