ABSTRACT
Due to the absence of organization and solidarity in the farm sector, as well as diverging interests and other aspects to be discussed, farm families have proved unable to avoid the loss of sons and daughters who enter the urban environment without the knowledge, skills or experience necessary for survival in the routinized salaried environment and are relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy. Farm families sensed the necessity to change long-used methods of cultivation, to tailor the chemical and mechanical innovations developed for particular crops or pests, for example, to the crop needs and pest problems of their lands. With the successes in the developed countries, the farm equipment industry next expanded its market into the developing countries. One aspect that has been an essential characteristic of family agriculture historically in many parts of the world is cooperation. In some countries ‘cooperatives’ have been established by governments for their own objectives and convenience.
