Introduction

Small farm agriculture was once considered to be little more than an anachronism of the development process. Large farms were expected to be the end result of successful economic development, because farmers could take advantage of economies of scale, capital intensification, and larger land areas to increase labor returns to levels commensurate with those of industrial and service sectors. The number of farms continues to decline, allowing steady increases in numbers of larger farms. The small farm is viewed increasingly as a viable economic unit. Certainly, agronomic considerations affect the potential for small farms to compete against their larger counterparts. Economic analysis of small farm agriculture is used to develop a detailed portrait of production and demographic patterns and to identify ways in which the systems might change. In Italy and Portugal, for example, the proportion of small farms in farm numbers exceeds 95 percent. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.