ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author charts a constant and rapid evolution which has fundamentally transformed the nature of the farm, the household, and their relationship to the wider society by delineating three main periods. The first from 1945–1955 represents a major break with the past resulting from the agitation to end the mezzadria and the land-reform itself. The second from 1955–1980 corresponds to the experience of the first generation taking over farms based on a model of agriculture enacted by the reform-agency. The third period from 1980 to the present day brings the collapse of that model, and the growth of wage-labour as a major source of income. The most important point to emerge from this economic history is the process of differentiation which has occurred amongst these family farmers despite the barriers to it created by the land-reform legislation. Even in the 1970s a substantial part of farming activity was directed towards the production of goods for household consumption: vegetables, eggs, poultry, rabbits and pigs.
