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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism pp 1–15Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Agriculture from Imperialism to Neoliberalism

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Synonyms

Dispossession; Peasants; Plantations; Commodity dependence; Food import dependence; Structural Adjustment; Market integration

Definition

World agriculture is marked by extreme imbalances that are among the most durable economic legacies of European imperialism. Many of the world’s poorest countries in the tropics are net food importers despite having large shares of their labor force engaged in agriculture and large amounts of their best arable land devoted to agro-export commodities. This commodity dependence has deep roots in waves of dispossession, the establishment of plantations, and the subjugation of peasantries to increasing competitive pressures at the same time as they were progressively marginalized in landscapes. On the other hand, many of the world’s wealthiest countries, including Europe and other temperate regions with heavy European settlement, supply a large share of all agricultural exports despite having extremely small shares of their labor force engaged in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Tony Weis

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  1. Tony Weis
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Correspondence to Tony Weis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Center for Worker Education, Brooklyn College, New York, NY, USA

    Immanuel Ness

  2. Independent Scholar, Belfast, UK

    Zak Cope

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Weis, T. (2019). Agriculture from Imperialism to Neoliberalism. In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_57-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_57-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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