This paper explores the development and work of the Rural Geography Research Group (RGRG) of the Royal Geographical Society over the last fifty years since its inception in 1972. It draws on the minutes of the RGRG's Annual General Meetings, content in its biannual newsletters, and reports of conferences. Using the concept of academic communities of practice (CoP), the paper explores the RGRG's contributions to UK and international geography and allied disciplines. It charts the evolution of the RGRG as a CoP through the influence of its members in (re)shaping rural geography. The roles of quadrennial conferences dating to 1991 between rural geographers from the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, and a series of bilateral conferences with Dutch, French, German and Spanish geographers are explored. These conferences produced a series of books which help illustrate the evolution of ideas and research in rural geography. In addition, the paper outlines how the RGRG functions as a space for personal and professional development, and the influence its office holders have had both within and beyond the Research Group. The paper concludes with a consideration of the future of rural geography, including the position of the Research Group within contemporary critical debates and likely themes for future research. •Fifty years of the Royal Geographical Society's Rural Geography Research Group.•The Group's contributions are studied through the lens of communities of practice.•Conferences and publications influence the evolution of ideas in the discipline.•The Group functions as a space for personal and professional development.•Considers the Group's position in contemporary critical debates, and its future.