ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines, in some detail, the origins and interpretations of petty commodity production in agriculture. It then provides an assessment of current debates and defines areas for development. These concern the incorporation of the commoditisation debate; subsumption processes; and, a consideration of the process of uneven development in comparative perspective. The process of agricultural production in advanced capitalist societies is still largely undertaken by farm families. Rather than focusing specifically on forms of production, attempts have recently been made to understand the causes and the consequences of the 'capital penetration process' in agrarian structures of advanced societies. The recent literature concerning the commoditisation process as it affects petty commodity producers in particular has yet to fully incorporate a more comprehensive understanding of the varied methods adopted by fractions of financial and industrial capital in transforming the family based labour process.
