A long view -- Growth and crisis in the pre-fossil era -- The big change -- How other regions coped -- Agriculture and the welfare state : emerging problems -- The neoliberal decades -- Looking into the crystal ball -- Where there's a will, there's a way

The problems of competition in agriculture have been highlighted recently by disagreement over the European Community's Common Agricultural Policy. This book presents an analysis of the roots of these problems in agrarian politics from 1846-1919