Peasantry in the Twenty-First Century

The deregulation of markets and the increasingly interlinked global markets make it very difficult for small farmers to survive. Thus, small primary agricultural producers must search for new ways to continue farming and earn a reasonable income. In many places, this has triggered a process of repeasantization that is reversing the once seemingly inevitable processes of modernization and urbanization. This article argues that this process occurs through six mechanisms that together have a strong impact on the nature and dynamics of the process of agricultural development.