ABSTRACT
Turning aside from theory, a few glimpses of farming practice as it was in the first half of the twentieth century can provide a little understanding of how family farming operated before the changes discussed in the following chapters had taken place – before major subsidies to farmers in some developed countries, before largescale mechanization and chemicalization, before collectivized farming in the communist countries, and before the era of ‘economic development’ in the developing countries. Two of the glimpses are of conditions in Asia, two in Europe and one in Africa. None are presented as ‘typical’. The material is spread over some 40 years, and is presented in order of time, not place. Hand labour was a common feature, working livestock were used in four of the five cases, and the careful planning of labour inputs was required for all. Beyond those remarks, we let the examples speak for themselves.
