Debra Reid and Evan Bennett (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813039862
- eISBN:
- 9780813043777
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813039862.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Beyond Forty Acres and a Mule focuses on America's most-forgotten farmers: black families that cast their lot on their own land and depended on their own labor in a nation that doubted their right to ...
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Beyond Forty Acres and a Mule focuses on America's most-forgotten farmers: black families that cast their lot on their own land and depended on their own labor in a nation that doubted their right to control either. Rural African Americans have long been perceived as dependent tenants, sharecroppers, and agricultural laborers. This collection of essays indicates that one in four black farm families overcame numerous obstacles by 1920 to own farm land. It does this without diminishing the serious nature of the opposition that limited their right to property and independent decision making. These essays indicate that black farmers who became farm owners and landowners should not be dismissed as anomalous economic success stories. Instead, they should be evaluated within the context of a larger social historical milieu. White landowners attempted to protect white's privileged status within the American agrarian ideal that linked landownership to morality and full citizenship. Black farm families had to overcome this philosophical barrier and additional obstacles posed by racism and sexism, the crop lien system of labor, debt, and unstable markets. Additional factors such as geographic isolation, limited crop and stock choices, mechanization, personal relationships, and kinship networks all affected black farm families in numerous and inconsistent ways. Beyond Forty Acres encourages readers to re-conceptualize small farms not as failure when compared to large-scale production agriculture but as an alternative approach specific to a time and place.Less
Beyond Forty Acres and a Mule focuses on America's most-forgotten farmers: black families that cast their lot on their own land and depended on their own labor in a nation that doubted their right to control either. Rural African Americans have long been perceived as dependent tenants, sharecroppers, and agricultural laborers. This collection of essays indicates that one in four black farm families overcame numerous obstacles by 1920 to own farm land. It does this without diminishing the serious nature of the opposition that limited their right to property and independent decision making. These essays indicate that black farmers who became farm owners and landowners should not be dismissed as anomalous economic success stories. Instead, they should be evaluated within the context of a larger social historical milieu. White landowners attempted to protect white's privileged status within the American agrarian ideal that linked landownership to morality and full citizenship. Black farm families had to overcome this philosophical barrier and additional obstacles posed by racism and sexism, the crop lien system of labor, debt, and unstable markets. Additional factors such as geographic isolation, limited crop and stock choices, mechanization, personal relationships, and kinship networks all affected black farm families in numerous and inconsistent ways. Beyond Forty Acres encourages readers to re-conceptualize small farms not as failure when compared to large-scale production agriculture but as an alternative approach specific to a time and place.
Peter Hazell and Atiqur Rahman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199689347
- eISBN:
- 9780191768248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689347.003.0018
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Reviews what is meant by small farms, and summarises key trends in farm size distributions and off-farm income diversification. Argues that a situation has arisen where policy makers need to ...
More
Reviews what is meant by small farms, and summarises key trends in farm size distributions and off-farm income diversification. Argues that a situation has arisen where policy makers need to differentiate more sharply than in the past between different types of small farms, both in terms of their potential contributions towards achieving national economic growth, poverty alleviation and food security goals, and the types of assistance they need. The chapter distinguishes between smallholders that are business oriented, subsistence oriented, and at various stages of transition to the nonfarm economy, and discusses strategies appropriate for assisting each type. The book draws on a wealth of recent experience at IFAD and elsewhere to help identify best practice approaches and implementation strategies.Less
Reviews what is meant by small farms, and summarises key trends in farm size distributions and off-farm income diversification. Argues that a situation has arisen where policy makers need to differentiate more sharply than in the past between different types of small farms, both in terms of their potential contributions towards achieving national economic growth, poverty alleviation and food security goals, and the types of assistance they need. The chapter distinguishes between smallholders that are business oriented, subsistence oriented, and at various stages of transition to the nonfarm economy, and discusses strategies appropriate for assisting each type. The book draws on a wealth of recent experience at IFAD and elsewhere to help identify best practice approaches and implementation strategies.
Adrienne Monteith Petty
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199938520
- eISBN:
- 9780199367764
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199938520.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
After the Civil War, a reinvigorated group of small farm owners emerged in North Carolina’s Lower Cape Fear region. Former slaves and landless freemen joined the established antebellum yeomanry in ...
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After the Civil War, a reinvigorated group of small farm owners emerged in North Carolina’s Lower Cape Fear region. Former slaves and landless freemen joined the established antebellum yeomanry in accumulating small farms carved out of the exhausted turpentine-producing forests of the region. This book explores their growth and decline between 1880 and 1980, focusing on how the simultaneous rise of the Jim Crow social order destroyed their ability to defend their interests as unified class. Small farm owners reemerged as a class at a particularly dynamic moment. Agrarian protest movements were sweeping the countryside. Thrust into commercial production and relations of debt, these farmers struggled to reconcile their ideological commitment to self-sufficiency with the merchant-driven demand for cash-crop production. Underway since the end of the nineteenth century, the gradual transformation of agriculture and rural society gained traction after World War II, dramatically reshaping the southern countryside and reducing the number of people who could make a living from farming through technological and scientific innovations. By focusing on small farmers in the South, this book recasts a central story in American history that is usually told from the standpoint of midwestern family farmers, or southern sharecroppers and plantation owners. Moreover, it rescues African American and Native American farm owners from a segregated realm of inquiry, analyzing them as part of the larger class of small farm owners.Less
After the Civil War, a reinvigorated group of small farm owners emerged in North Carolina’s Lower Cape Fear region. Former slaves and landless freemen joined the established antebellum yeomanry in accumulating small farms carved out of the exhausted turpentine-producing forests of the region. This book explores their growth and decline between 1880 and 1980, focusing on how the simultaneous rise of the Jim Crow social order destroyed their ability to defend their interests as unified class. Small farm owners reemerged as a class at a particularly dynamic moment. Agrarian protest movements were sweeping the countryside. Thrust into commercial production and relations of debt, these farmers struggled to reconcile their ideological commitment to self-sufficiency with the merchant-driven demand for cash-crop production. Underway since the end of the nineteenth century, the gradual transformation of agriculture and rural society gained traction after World War II, dramatically reshaping the southern countryside and reducing the number of people who could make a living from farming through technological and scientific innovations. By focusing on small farmers in the South, this book recasts a central story in American history that is usually told from the standpoint of midwestern family farmers, or southern sharecroppers and plantation owners. Moreover, it rescues African American and Native American farm owners from a segregated realm of inquiry, analyzing them as part of the larger class of small farm owners.
Peter B. R. Hazell
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198733201
- eISBN:
- 9780191797767
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198733201.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental, Public and Welfare
The case for smallholder development as a win-win strategy for achieving agricultural growth, poverty reduction, and food security is less clear than it was during the Green Revolution era. The ...
More
The case for smallholder development as a win-win strategy for achieving agricultural growth, poverty reduction, and food security is less clear than it was during the Green Revolution era. The gathering forces of rapid urbanization, a reverse farm size transition toward ever smaller and more diversified farms, and an emerging corporate-driven business agenda in response to higher agricultural and energy prices are all creating a situation where policymakers need to differentiate more sharply between the needs of different types of small farms, and between growth, poverty, and food security goals. Further research is needed to develop and test the relevance of smallholder typologies and to assess the most effective forms of agricultural interventions for each type of smallholder.Less
The case for smallholder development as a win-win strategy for achieving agricultural growth, poverty reduction, and food security is less clear than it was during the Green Revolution era. The gathering forces of rapid urbanization, a reverse farm size transition toward ever smaller and more diversified farms, and an emerging corporate-driven business agenda in response to higher agricultural and energy prices are all creating a situation where policymakers need to differentiate more sharply between the needs of different types of small farms, and between growth, poverty, and food security goals. Further research is needed to develop and test the relevance of smallholder typologies and to assess the most effective forms of agricultural interventions for each type of smallholder.
Karl Zimmerer
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520203037
- eISBN:
- 9780520917033
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520203037.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
Two of the world's most pressing needs—biodiversity conservation and agricultural development in the Third World—are addressed in this multidisciplinary investigation in geography. The book ...
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Two of the world's most pressing needs—biodiversity conservation and agricultural development in the Third World—are addressed in this multidisciplinary investigation in geography. The book challenges current opinion by showing that the world-renowned diversity of crops grown in the Andes may not be as hopelessly endangered as is widely believed. It uses the lengthy history of small-scale farming by Indians in Peru, including contemporary practices and attitudes, to shed light on prospects for the future. During prolonged fieldwork among Peru's Quechua peasants and villagers in the mountains near Cuzco, evidence that much of the region's biodiversity is being skillfully conserved on a de facto basis was found to be convincing, as has been true during centuries of tumultuous agrarian transitions. Diversity occurs unevenly, however, because of the inability of poorer Quechua farmers to plant the same variety as their well-off neighbors and because land use pressures differ in different locations. Social, political, and economic upheavals have accentuated the unevenness, and this book's geographical findings are all the more important as a result. Diversity is indeed at serious risk, but not necessarily for the same reasons that have been cited by others. The originality of this study is in its correlation of ecological conservation, ethnic expression, and economic development.Less
Two of the world's most pressing needs—biodiversity conservation and agricultural development in the Third World—are addressed in this multidisciplinary investigation in geography. The book challenges current opinion by showing that the world-renowned diversity of crops grown in the Andes may not be as hopelessly endangered as is widely believed. It uses the lengthy history of small-scale farming by Indians in Peru, including contemporary practices and attitudes, to shed light on prospects for the future. During prolonged fieldwork among Peru's Quechua peasants and villagers in the mountains near Cuzco, evidence that much of the region's biodiversity is being skillfully conserved on a de facto basis was found to be convincing, as has been true during centuries of tumultuous agrarian transitions. Diversity occurs unevenly, however, because of the inability of poorer Quechua farmers to plant the same variety as their well-off neighbors and because land use pressures differ in different locations. Social, political, and economic upheavals have accentuated the unevenness, and this book's geographical findings are all the more important as a result. Diversity is indeed at serious risk, but not necessarily for the same reasons that have been cited by others. The originality of this study is in its correlation of ecological conservation, ethnic expression, and economic development.
Martin Evans
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199689347
- eISBN:
- 9780191768248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689347.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The growing corporate presence in a wider variety of agricultural value chains can open up new opportunities for contract farming to the advantage of smallholders in agriculture, but more ...
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The growing corporate presence in a wider variety of agricultural value chains can open up new opportunities for contract farming to the advantage of smallholders in agriculture, but more ‘corporatization’ also has downsides such as less competitive markets, more vertical integration in agricultural value chains, and changes in systems and modalities (e.g. land development modality in sub-Saharan Africa) that makes little provision for small farm participation. This chapter suggests that harnessing the economic power of corporate agribusiness for the benefit of small farmers requires purposive action from the three parties involved: farmers to self-organize into large enough producer groups, companies to make small farm supply an integral part of their business models, and governments to provide the necessary enabling environment. The open question is the extent to which such corporate commitment will only be forthcoming through enterprises and partnerships that have access to non-commercial capital.Less
The growing corporate presence in a wider variety of agricultural value chains can open up new opportunities for contract farming to the advantage of smallholders in agriculture, but more ‘corporatization’ also has downsides such as less competitive markets, more vertical integration in agricultural value chains, and changes in systems and modalities (e.g. land development modality in sub-Saharan Africa) that makes little provision for small farm participation. This chapter suggests that harnessing the economic power of corporate agribusiness for the benefit of small farmers requires purposive action from the three parties involved: farmers to self-organize into large enough producer groups, companies to make small farm supply an integral part of their business models, and governments to provide the necessary enabling environment. The open question is the extent to which such corporate commitment will only be forthcoming through enterprises and partnerships that have access to non-commercial capital.
Cormac Ó Gráda
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205982
- eISBN:
- 9780191676895
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205982.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
Sir William Petty (1623–87) is best remembered by Irish economic historians for his estimates of population and income and by geographers for his maps and surveys. In both fields he was a pioneer, ...
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Sir William Petty (1623–87) is best remembered by Irish economic historians for his estimates of population and income and by geographers for his maps and surveys. In both fields he was a pioneer, and his work forms the starting point for all subsequent inquiries. Petty also produced estimates of agricultural productivity in Ireland in the 1660s, presumably based on his own observations in the south. His measuring rod was the ratio of output to seed planted, the crop yield ratio. In terms of thoroughness, detail, and methodology, Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland, marks a giant leap forward over Petty and this book considered the most comprehensive guide to Irish agriculture in the late 18th century. This chapter looks at Irish agriculture, agricultural exports, and land tenure from 1780 to 1815. It also discusses Ireland's four different regional archetypes identified by Kevin Whelans: the pastoral, the tillage, the small farm, and the proto-industrial.Less
Sir William Petty (1623–87) is best remembered by Irish economic historians for his estimates of population and income and by geographers for his maps and surveys. In both fields he was a pioneer, and his work forms the starting point for all subsequent inquiries. Petty also produced estimates of agricultural productivity in Ireland in the 1660s, presumably based on his own observations in the south. His measuring rod was the ratio of output to seed planted, the crop yield ratio. In terms of thoroughness, detail, and methodology, Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland, marks a giant leap forward over Petty and this book considered the most comprehensive guide to Irish agriculture in the late 18th century. This chapter looks at Irish agriculture, agricultural exports, and land tenure from 1780 to 1815. It also discusses Ireland's four different regional archetypes identified by Kevin Whelans: the pastoral, the tillage, the small farm, and the proto-industrial.
Grey Osterud
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801450280
- eISBN:
- 9780801464171
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801450280.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter examines how the increasing scale and degree of specialization of commercial farms and the trend toward combining off-farm labor with small-scale farming affected the gender division of ...
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This chapter examines how the increasing scale and degree of specialization of commercial farms and the trend toward combining off-farm labor with small-scale farming affected the gender division of labor on farms and power relations in farm families in the Nanticoke Valley during the early twentieth century. It shows that both of these economic shifts generated a new form of class stratification in rural society. To some degree, this divergence corresponded with ethnicity; many immigrant families who moved to run-down or abandoned farms kept some family members working in the factory while others labored on the land to build up the enterprise. The chapter first considers the complex gender and intergenerational relations within farm families and rural communities before discussing how fundamental changes in the rural economy took place. It also explores how farming families resisted capitalist transformation so successfully for so long and what roles rural women played in sustaining diversifed family farms as well as the community networks on which they relied.Less
This chapter examines how the increasing scale and degree of specialization of commercial farms and the trend toward combining off-farm labor with small-scale farming affected the gender division of labor on farms and power relations in farm families in the Nanticoke Valley during the early twentieth century. It shows that both of these economic shifts generated a new form of class stratification in rural society. To some degree, this divergence corresponded with ethnicity; many immigrant families who moved to run-down or abandoned farms kept some family members working in the factory while others labored on the land to build up the enterprise. The chapter first considers the complex gender and intergenerational relations within farm families and rural communities before discussing how fundamental changes in the rural economy took place. It also explores how farming families resisted capitalist transformation so successfully for so long and what roles rural women played in sustaining diversifed family farms as well as the community networks on which they relied.
Magnus Jirström, Maria Archila Bustos, and Sarah Alobo Loison
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198799283
- eISBN:
- 9780191839641
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198799283.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter provides a broad descriptive background of central aspects of smallholder agriculture in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It offers an up-to-date picture of the current trends ...
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This chapter provides a broad descriptive background of central aspects of smallholder agriculture in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It offers an up-to-date picture of the current trends of crop production, area productivity, levels of commercialization, and sources of cash incomes among 2,500 farming households. Structured around smallholder production, commercialization, and diversification in the period 2002–15, the chapter points on the one hand at persistent challenges such as low crop yields, low levels of output per farm, and a high degree of subsistence farming, and on the other hand at positive change over time in terms of growth in crop production and increasing levels of commercialization. It points at large variations not only between countries and time periods but also at the village levels, where gaps in crop productivity between farms remain large. Implicitly it points at the potential yet to be exploited in the SSA smallholder sector.Less
This chapter provides a broad descriptive background of central aspects of smallholder agriculture in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It offers an up-to-date picture of the current trends of crop production, area productivity, levels of commercialization, and sources of cash incomes among 2,500 farming households. Structured around smallholder production, commercialization, and diversification in the period 2002–15, the chapter points on the one hand at persistent challenges such as low crop yields, low levels of output per farm, and a high degree of subsistence farming, and on the other hand at positive change over time in terms of growth in crop production and increasing levels of commercialization. It points at large variations not only between countries and time periods but also at the village levels, where gaps in crop productivity between farms remain large. Implicitly it points at the potential yet to be exploited in the SSA smallholder sector.
Thomas A. Lyson, G. W. Stevenson, and Rick Welsh (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262122993
- eISBN:
- 9780262278751
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262122993.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Agriculture in the United States today increasingly operates in two separate spheres: Large, corporate-connected commodity production and distribution systems; and small-scale farms that market ...
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Agriculture in the United States today increasingly operates in two separate spheres: Large, corporate-connected commodity production and distribution systems; and small-scale farms that market directly to consumers. As a result, midsize family-operated farms find it increasingly difficult to find and reach markets for their products. They are too big to use the direct marketing techniques of small farms but too small to take advantage of corporate marketing and distribution systems. This crisis of the midsize farm results in a rural America with weakened municipal tax bases, job losses, and population flight. This book discusses strategies for reviving an “agriculture of the middle” and creating a food system that works for midsize farms and ranches. Activists, practitioners, and scholars from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, political science, and economics, consider ways in which midsize farms can regain vitality by scaling up aspects of small farms’ operations to connect with consumers, organizing together to develop markets for their products, developing food supply chains that preserve farmer identity and are based on fair business agreements, and promoting public policies (at international, federal, state, and community levels) which address agriculture-of-the-middle issues. The book makes it clear that the demise of midsize farms and ranches is not a foregone conclusion and that the renewal of an agriculture of the middle will benefit all participants in the food system, from growers to consumers.Less
Agriculture in the United States today increasingly operates in two separate spheres: Large, corporate-connected commodity production and distribution systems; and small-scale farms that market directly to consumers. As a result, midsize family-operated farms find it increasingly difficult to find and reach markets for their products. They are too big to use the direct marketing techniques of small farms but too small to take advantage of corporate marketing and distribution systems. This crisis of the midsize farm results in a rural America with weakened municipal tax bases, job losses, and population flight. This book discusses strategies for reviving an “agriculture of the middle” and creating a food system that works for midsize farms and ranches. Activists, practitioners, and scholars from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, political science, and economics, consider ways in which midsize farms can regain vitality by scaling up aspects of small farms’ operations to connect with consumers, organizing together to develop markets for their products, developing food supply chains that preserve farmer identity and are based on fair business agreements, and promoting public policies (at international, federal, state, and community levels) which address agriculture-of-the-middle issues. The book makes it clear that the demise of midsize farms and ranches is not a foregone conclusion and that the renewal of an agriculture of the middle will benefit all participants in the food system, from growers to consumers.
Peter Hazell and Atiqur Rahman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199689347
- eISBN:
- 9780191768248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689347.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The Introduction reviews arguments for and against investing in small farms and derives key questions that need to be answered. It provides an overview of the book content
The Introduction reviews arguments for and against investing in small farms and derives key questions that need to be answered. It provides an overview of the book content
Ahmed Belal, John Briggs, Joanne Sharp, and Irina Springuel
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774161988
- eISBN:
- 9781617970320
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774161988.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter examines the effects of environmental changes brought about by the Aswan High Dam on the resource base for those people living in the desert. It considers the resources traditionally ...
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This chapter examines the effects of environmental changes brought about by the Aswan High Dam on the resource base for those people living in the desert. It considers the resources traditionally available to the Bedouin, and the new opportunities emerging as a result of the High Dam Lake. The resultant biomass now provides a range of exploitable resources. Grazing resources consequent upon the retreat of the lake are now available from October to November until the following August, and are being increasingly supplemented by the cultivation of small amounts of fodder crops, irrigated by either lake water directly or seepage water from the lake that fills wells, sometimes at considerable distances from the lakeshore. The biomass, especially tamarisk bushes and trees, also provides firewood and building materials, as well as medicinal plants and herbs. If the soils of Wadi Allaqi are used with care and are maintained properly, they are more than capable of supporting cultivation on small farms.Less
This chapter examines the effects of environmental changes brought about by the Aswan High Dam on the resource base for those people living in the desert. It considers the resources traditionally available to the Bedouin, and the new opportunities emerging as a result of the High Dam Lake. The resultant biomass now provides a range of exploitable resources. Grazing resources consequent upon the retreat of the lake are now available from October to November until the following August, and are being increasingly supplemented by the cultivation of small amounts of fodder crops, irrigated by either lake water directly or seepage water from the lake that fills wells, sometimes at considerable distances from the lakeshore. The biomass, especially tamarisk bushes and trees, also provides firewood and building materials, as well as medicinal plants and herbs. If the soils of Wadi Allaqi are used with care and are maintained properly, they are more than capable of supporting cultivation on small farms.
Peter B. R. Hazell and Atiqur Rahman (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199689347
- eISBN:
- 9780191768248
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689347.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The majority of the poor and hungry people in the world live on small farms and struggle to subsist on too little land with low input – low yield technologies. At the same time, many other ...
More
The majority of the poor and hungry people in the world live on small farms and struggle to subsist on too little land with low input – low yield technologies. At the same time, many other smallholders are successfully intensifying and succeeding as farm businesses, often in combination with diversification into off-farm sources of income. This book examines the growing divergence between subsistence and business oriented small farms, and discusses how this divergence has been impacted by population growth, trends in farm size distribution, urbanisation, off-farm income diversification, and the globalisation of agricultural value chains. It finds that a situation has arisen where policy makers need to differentiate more sharply than in the past between different types of small farms, both in terms of their potential contributions towards achieving national economic growth, poverty alleviation and food security goals, and the types of assistance they need. The book distinguishes between smallholders that are business oriented, subsistence oriented, and at various stages of transition to the nonfarm economy, and discusses strategies appropriate for assisting each type. The book draws on a wealth of recent experience at IFAD and elsewhere to help identify best practice approaches.Less
The majority of the poor and hungry people in the world live on small farms and struggle to subsist on too little land with low input – low yield technologies. At the same time, many other smallholders are successfully intensifying and succeeding as farm businesses, often in combination with diversification into off-farm sources of income. This book examines the growing divergence between subsistence and business oriented small farms, and discusses how this divergence has been impacted by population growth, trends in farm size distribution, urbanisation, off-farm income diversification, and the globalisation of agricultural value chains. It finds that a situation has arisen where policy makers need to differentiate more sharply than in the past between different types of small farms, both in terms of their potential contributions towards achieving national economic growth, poverty alleviation and food security goals, and the types of assistance they need. The book distinguishes between smallholders that are business oriented, subsistence oriented, and at various stages of transition to the nonfarm economy, and discusses strategies appropriate for assisting each type. The book draws on a wealth of recent experience at IFAD and elsewhere to help identify best practice approaches.
Richard Orsi
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520200197
- eISBN:
- 9780520940864
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520200197.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The only major U.S. railroad to be operated by westerners and the only railroad built from west to east, the Southern Pacific acquired a unique history and character. It also acquired a reputation, ...
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The only major U.S. railroad to be operated by westerners and the only railroad built from west to east, the Southern Pacific acquired a unique history and character. It also acquired a reputation, especially in California, as a railroad that people loved to hate. This magisterial history tells the full story of the Southern Pacific, shattering myths about the company that have prevailed to this day. It explores the railroad's development and influence—especially as it affected land settlement, agriculture, water policy, and the environment—and offers a new perspective on the tremendous, often surprising, role the company played in shaping the American West. Based on unprecedented and extensive research into the company's historical archives, the book finds that, contrary to conventional understanding, the Southern Pacific Company identified its corporate well-being with population growth and social and economic development in the railroad's hinterland. As it traces the complex and shifting intersections between corporate and public interest, the book documents the railroad's little-known promotion of land distribution, small-scale farming, scientific agriculture, and less-wasteful environmental practices and policies—including water conservation and wilderness and recreational parklands preservation.Less
The only major U.S. railroad to be operated by westerners and the only railroad built from west to east, the Southern Pacific acquired a unique history and character. It also acquired a reputation, especially in California, as a railroad that people loved to hate. This magisterial history tells the full story of the Southern Pacific, shattering myths about the company that have prevailed to this day. It explores the railroad's development and influence—especially as it affected land settlement, agriculture, water policy, and the environment—and offers a new perspective on the tremendous, often surprising, role the company played in shaping the American West. Based on unprecedented and extensive research into the company's historical archives, the book finds that, contrary to conventional understanding, the Southern Pacific Company identified its corporate well-being with population growth and social and economic development in the railroad's hinterland. As it traces the complex and shifting intersections between corporate and public interest, the book documents the railroad's little-known promotion of land distribution, small-scale farming, scientific agriculture, and less-wasteful environmental practices and policies—including water conservation and wilderness and recreational parklands preservation.
Christopher M Bacon, V. Ernesto Mendez, Stephen R Gliessman, David Goodman, and Jonathan A Fox (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262026338
- eISBN:
- 9780262267526
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262026338.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Our morning cups of coffee connect us to a global industry and, also, to an export crisis in the tropics that is destroying livelihoods, undermining the cohesion of families and communities, and ...
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Our morning cups of coffee connect us to a global industry and, also, to an export crisis in the tropics that is destroying livelihoods, undermining the cohesion of families and communities, and threatening ecosystems. This book explores the crisis facing small-scale coffee farmers of Mexico and Central America, the political economy of the global coffee industry, the coffee producers’ response to this crisis, and the initiatives that claim to promote more sustainable rural development among coffee-producing communities. The contributors review the historical, political, economic, and agroecological processes involved in today’s coffee industry and analyze the severely depressed export market that small-scale growers in Mexico and Central America encounters. The book presents a series of interdisciplinary case studies showing how small-scale farmers manage ecosystems and organize collectively as they seek useful collaboration with international NGOs and coffee companies to create opportunities for themselves in the coffee market. The findings demonstrate the interconnections between the livelihoods of farmers, biodiversity, conservation, and changing coffee markets. Additional chapters examine alternative trade practices, certification, and eco-labeling, and discuss the politics and market growth of organic, shade-grown, and Fair Trade coffees.Less
Our morning cups of coffee connect us to a global industry and, also, to an export crisis in the tropics that is destroying livelihoods, undermining the cohesion of families and communities, and threatening ecosystems. This book explores the crisis facing small-scale coffee farmers of Mexico and Central America, the political economy of the global coffee industry, the coffee producers’ response to this crisis, and the initiatives that claim to promote more sustainable rural development among coffee-producing communities. The contributors review the historical, political, economic, and agroecological processes involved in today’s coffee industry and analyze the severely depressed export market that small-scale growers in Mexico and Central America encounters. The book presents a series of interdisciplinary case studies showing how small-scale farmers manage ecosystems and organize collectively as they seek useful collaboration with international NGOs and coffee companies to create opportunities for themselves in the coffee market. The findings demonstrate the interconnections between the livelihoods of farmers, biodiversity, conservation, and changing coffee markets. Additional chapters examine alternative trade practices, certification, and eco-labeling, and discuss the politics and market growth of organic, shade-grown, and Fair Trade coffees.
Parker Shipton
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300116038
- eISBN:
- 9780300162929
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300116038.003.0004
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
This chapter examines Kenya's Integrated Agricultural Development Project (IADP), one of the most ambitious rural credit programs ever started in the country. By the mid-1970s, when the IADP was put ...
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This chapter examines Kenya's Integrated Agricultural Development Project (IADP), one of the most ambitious rural credit programs ever started in the country. By the mid-1970s, when the IADP was put into effect, Kenya was the favorite country of international lenders and donors in eastern and central Africa. Agriculture was the favorite “sector” for public investment and assistance in rural Kenya, and “smallholders” were the preferred “target group” within agriculture. Over several years of planning, the IADP and the two main projects within it, the Integrated Agricultural Development Project (also called the IADP) and the Smallholder Production Services and Credit Project, emerged as the main thrust of Kenya's campaign for directed small-farm development. The chapter reveals that the IADP plans noted the important role of women in Kenyan farming and directed that they be “adequately represented” as recipients of training and extension.Less
This chapter examines Kenya's Integrated Agricultural Development Project (IADP), one of the most ambitious rural credit programs ever started in the country. By the mid-1970s, when the IADP was put into effect, Kenya was the favorite country of international lenders and donors in eastern and central Africa. Agriculture was the favorite “sector” for public investment and assistance in rural Kenya, and “smallholders” were the preferred “target group” within agriculture. Over several years of planning, the IADP and the two main projects within it, the Integrated Agricultural Development Project (also called the IADP) and the Smallholder Production Services and Credit Project, emerged as the main thrust of Kenya's campaign for directed small-farm development. The chapter reveals that the IADP plans noted the important role of women in Kenyan farming and directed that they be “adequately represented” as recipients of training and extension.
Adam Wesley Dean
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469619910
- eISBN:
- 9781469623139
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469619910.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main argument that the political ideology of the Republican Party, the antislavery organization that proved so wildly popular in the North during the ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main argument that the political ideology of the Republican Party, the antislavery organization that proved so wildly popular in the North during the 1850s, was fundamentally agrarian. Similar to Thomas Jefferson, whose party served as their namesake, Republicans believed that wise land management was inseparable from the ideal society. Republicans believed that tilling the soil for multiple generations on small farms produced a strong nation. In contrast, the use of slave labor promoted waste, barbarism, and disunion. By necessity, this book focuses on the links between antislavery politics, Civil War policy, national parks, and Reconstruction. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the book’s main argument that the political ideology of the Republican Party, the antislavery organization that proved so wildly popular in the North during the 1850s, was fundamentally agrarian. Similar to Thomas Jefferson, whose party served as their namesake, Republicans believed that wise land management was inseparable from the ideal society. Republicans believed that tilling the soil for multiple generations on small farms produced a strong nation. In contrast, the use of slave labor promoted waste, barbarism, and disunion. By necessity, this book focuses on the links between antislavery politics, Civil War policy, national parks, and Reconstruction. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Adam Wesley Dean
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469619910
- eISBN:
- 9781469623139
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469619910.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
The familiar story of the Civil War tells of a predominately agricultural South pitted against a rapidly industrializing North. However, this book argues that the Republican Party’s political ...
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The familiar story of the Civil War tells of a predominately agricultural South pitted against a rapidly industrializing North. However, this book argues that the Republican Party’s political ideology was fundamentally agrarian. Believing that small farms owned by families for generations led to a model society, Republicans supported a northern agricultural ideal in opposition to southern plantation agriculture, which destroyed the land’s productivity, required constant western expansion, and produced an elite landed gentry hostile to the Union. The book shows how agrarian republicanism shaped the debate over slavery’s expansion, spurred the creation of the Department of Agriculture and the passage of the Homestead Act, and laid the foundation for the development of the earliest nature parks.Less
The familiar story of the Civil War tells of a predominately agricultural South pitted against a rapidly industrializing North. However, this book argues that the Republican Party’s political ideology was fundamentally agrarian. Believing that small farms owned by families for generations led to a model society, Republicans supported a northern agricultural ideal in opposition to southern plantation agriculture, which destroyed the land’s productivity, required constant western expansion, and produced an elite landed gentry hostile to the Union. The book shows how agrarian republicanism shaped the debate over slavery’s expansion, spurred the creation of the Department of Agriculture and the passage of the Homestead Act, and laid the foundation for the development of the earliest nature parks.
