Includes bibliographical references and index.

Asking agrarian questions; defining the family farm -- Farming as it was -- Setting up the farm: accessing land and water -- Workforce, livestock, tools and seeds -- From the farm to the consumer -- Farmers and the state: the leading role of the North Atlantic countries -- Farms collectivized and de-collectivized: Russia and China -- The periphery: from structuralism to neo-liberalism -- Farmers as landscape custodians: environmentalism, land degradation and pollution -- Conservation and growing complexity since the 1980s -- Collisions over land in developing countries: Mexico and Brazil -- Contrasted de-agrarianization: Africa and Asia -- Two paths into the new century: pluriactivity and organics.

Also available in print edition. CRC Press (http://www.crcpress.com)

Mode of access: World Wide Web.