Marx, Lenin and Kautsky all regarded family farming as doomed to
be split into capitalist farms and proletarian labour. Most modern
economists regard family farming as an archaic form of production
organization, destined to give way to agribusiness. Family Farms
refutes these notions and analyses the manner in which family
farmers have been able to operate with success in both developed
and developing countries, using examples wherever these are
illuminating.
This book begins by reviewing theoretical arguments about
agricultural structures, and defines family farming. This is
followed by five vignettes about farming in the first half of the
twentieth century. The authors analyse the conditions of access to
land and water, labour, livestock, tools and seed and review
marketing arrangements and how they have changed since 1900. A
three-chapter review of evolving policies in the North Atlantic
countries, in the communist states, and in the developing
countries, leads to a discussion of the impact of neo-liberalism.
New issues of the farmer as steward of the environment are
explored, as well as modern ideas about de-agrarianization and a
discussion of land reform, tracing the experience of Mexico and
Brazil. In two final chapters the more positive approach of
pluriactivity is discussed and followed by a review of organic
farming as a principal modern innovation. New political
organizations representing family farming are described and their
demands are discussed with empathy, but in a sceptical manner.
Family farming is an adaptable and resilient form of production
organization, and these qualities have allowed it to survive. The
future will be no easier than the past, yet family farming
continues to flourish in most contexts. This book will be useful
for researchers, students and lecturers interested in Development
Studies, Rural Studies and Geography and Anthropology, as well as
general readers who have an interest in farming.
General
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