Peasants and the Art of Farming: A Chayanovian Manifesto(2 Agrarian Change & Peasant Studies)

Peasants and the Art of Farming: A Chayanovian Manifesto focuses on the structure and dynamics of peasant farms and the historically highly variable relations that govern the processes of labour and production within peasant farms. Jan Douwe van der Ploeg argues that peasant agriculture can play an important, if not central, role in augmenting food production and creating sustainability. However, peasants today, as in the past, are materially neglected. By building on the pioneering work of Chayanov, this book seeks to address this neglect and to show how important peasants are in the ongoing struggles for food, food sustainability and food sovereignty.

Table of Contents:
Prelims [ICAS Agrarian Change and Peasant Studies | Series Acknowledgements | Preface] 1 Peasants and Social Transformations The Political Relevance of Peasant Theory Peasant Agriculture and Capitalism What Makes Chayanov a “Genius”? A Proof of Pedigree 2 The Two Main Balances Identified by Chayanov The Peasant Unit of Production: No Wages, No Capital The Labour-Consumer Balance The Political Relevance of the Labour-Consumer Balance The Scientific Relevance of the Labour-Consumer Balance The Balance of Utility and Drudgery On “Subjective Evaluation” Self-Exploitation 3 A Wider Array of Interacting Balances The Balance between People and Living Nature The Balance of Production and Reproduction The Balance of Internal and External Resources The Balance of Autonomy and Dependence The Balance of Scale and Intensity (and the Emergence of Farming Styles) Fighting for Progress in an Adverse Environment By Way of Synthesis: The Peasant Farm A Final Note on Differentiation 4 The Position of Peasant Agriculture in the Wider Context Town-Countryside Relations as Mediated by Exchange Relations Town-Countryside Relations as Mediated by Migration Farming Versus the Processing and Marketing of Food State-Peasantry Relations The Balance of Agrarian Growth and Demographic Growth 5 Yields Current Mechanisms of Labour Driven Intensification The Significance and Reach of Labour Driven Intensification When Labour Driven Intensification is Blocked What Propels Labour Driven Intensification? Intensification and the Role of Agrarian Sciences Can Peasants Feed the World? 6 Repeasantization Processes and Expressions of Repeasantization Repeasantization in Western Europe: Resetting the Balances Back Matter [Glossary | References | Index]