ABSTRACT
Structural dualism Indicates the existences on one pole of the farm spectrum of a limited, yet expanding, large farm sector which produces a considerable portion of the total agricultural sales and/or occupies a substantial area of cultivated land. In the attempt to describe and analyze dualism in the agricultural structure of advanced Western societies, it is relevant to address two important issues. The first involves the identification of criteria for the definition of small farms, while the second deals with the position of small farms within the socio-economic system. In the United States small farms have been defined using various criteria and identified as family farms, families with limited resources, farms with a limited volume of agricultural sales and farms with a limited acreage. Small farmers have been encouraged to leave agriculture and have been the subjects of policies of social assistance.
