Farmers and the Dynamics of Agricultural Change in Interwar Europe

This chapter considers why European farmers were not more productive. Interwar Europe has been described as the ‘Golden Age of the Peasantry’, with the family farm becoming the dominant unit of production, occupying the space left following the demise of the large, landed estate. Although economic theory suggests that family farms use labour efficiently, most were either too small to mechanize or faced weak consumer demand for labour-intensive, high-value commodities. Cereals were widely cultivated, both on large mechanized farms and small, marginal holding, but in Western Europe farmers were usually dependent on tariffs, while in Eastern Europe they reflected growing self-sufficiency among small farmers. Dairy farming was ideal for the family farmer when climatic conditions provide ample grass, but milk was highly perishable, and farms had to be located close to consumers. In viticulture, technological change was favouring large-scale wine producers, domestic demand was generally weak, and export opportunities limited by tariffs. Finally, small farmers faced significant entry barriers to producing and marketing high-value commodities, such as ‘fine’ wines or citrus fruits, and had to compete on price, rather than quality.