ABSTRACT
The total disappearance of the family farm has been confidently predicted for almost a century and a half, and is still predicted today. While a great number have not survived into the twenty-first century, the fact that so many have done so, and in so many different lands, is remarkable. In what is now termed ‘late capitalism’ the continued existence of these non-corporate units of production seems anomalous, even archaic, to many observers. An integrated explanation is offered at the end of the book, but in this first chapter we show why they were expected to become extinct in a much earlier phase of capitalist evolution. Then we define what we mean by ‘family farm’. Some other issues of importance are introduced, to be more fully developed in later chapters.
