Citation: Jad’ud’ová, J.; Št’astná, M.; Marková, I.; Hroncová, E. Regional Labelling as a Tool for Supporting Rural Development: A Slovak Case Study. Agriculture 2023, 13, 1053. https://doi.org/10.3390/ agriculture13051053 Received: 11 April 2023 Revised: 9 May 2023 Accepted: 11 May 2023 Published: 13 May 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). agriculture Article Regional Labelling as a Tool for Supporting Rural Development: A Slovak Case Study Jana Jad’ud’ová 1, *, Milada Št’astná 2 , Iveta Marková 1 and Emília Hroncová 3 1 Department of Fire Engineering, Faculty of Security Engineering, University of Žilina 1, 01026 Žilina, Slovakia; iveta.markova@uniza.sk 2 Department of Applied and Landscape Ecology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic; milada.stastna@mendelu.cz 3 Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, Jeséniova 17, 83315 Bratislava, Slovakia; emilia.hroncova@shmu.sk * Correspondence: jana.jadudova@uniza.sk; Tel.: +42-14-1513-6758 Abstract: Regional product labelling has become a trend in recent years, with the goal of being able to stimulate and support local economies; increase the sales of quality local products and services; preserve and maintain traditions, local cultural values, and the character of rural landscapes; and promote the use of local resources, potential, and raw materials. The existing Slovak studies deal primarily with the perception of consumers and tourism. In this article, we analysed forms of rural development in connection with regional product labelling and the Slovak regions of Kopanice and Záhorie. This theme is a relatively new phenomenon in Slovakia, and that is the author’s main contribution. The research was conducted using an online questionnaire administered between May and July 2022 in each district of the region, with a total of 283 respondents participating. The results obtained from the questionnaire survey were statistically processed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. We used STATISTIC 109 software (Tibco software, Palo Alto, California). The questionnaire method is the most suitable method for determining the perceptions of the respondents. The goal was to analyse rural development in connection with regional product labelling and to identify areas of the application of regional product labels. The term regional product was associated with production in a specific region (50.5%) and with the customs and traditions of the region (43.8%). Supporting employment and entrepreneurship in the region were considered by 43.1% of the respondents as the most important in the region. From the perspective of the application of regional labelling in connection with rural development, we confirmed gender and education dependence. Women with first- and second-level higher education saw regional labels as the main element in the development of the region and the local economy. Keywords: rural management; regional label; regional product; agricultural development; rural areas in Slovakia 1. Introduction Nowadays, place is considered to be one of the qualitative aspects of production. This is best represented by regional product labelling schemes. The region of origin and its uniqueness thus has become the very essence of product quality and a guarantee thereof, while also being a source of competitive advantage [1]. Regional product labelling schemes are designed to guarantee—usually through certification—a direct link between a particular product and a particular region, allowing the producer to use a label representing this relationship. We can see regional product labels as a phenomenon of a marketing mix that emphasises the external attributes (appellation, name, and graphical expression) that differentiate a product from its competitors on the market. The experience of Adalja et al. [2] and other sources indicates that consumers typically prefer local products because they perceive them as fresh, trust their source, and attribute health positives and environmental sustainability to them. Furthermore, they are able to support small farms and the local Agriculture 2023, 13, 1053. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13051053 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture