ABSTRACT
The problem of modernizing subsistence agriculture cuts across disciplinary boundaries. "Subsistence production" and "subsistence levels of living" provided less difficulty than "subsistence agriculture," "subsistence economy," and "subsistence farmer." Of all these concepts, the definition of "subsistence farmer" and/or "peasant" created the greatest recurring disagreements. Though both "subsistence production" and "subsistence living" frequently coincide, they are not necessarily synonymous. Rather than use the term "subsistence" loosely, one should specify in each case whether one is referring to "subsistence production" or to a "subsistence level of living." The most common starting point for a definition of a "subsistence farmer" or "peasant" is that the farm family's goal of production is for family food rather than for commercial sale. "Subsistence agriculture" is essentially the kind of industry in which subsistence farmers are engaged, while the "subsistence agricultural economy" is the activities which they carry out through societally determined patterns of economic organization.
