The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Smallholders, Householders: Farm Families and the Ecology of Intensive, Sustainable Agriculture
Abstract
Contrasting the prevailing theories of the evolution of agriculture, the author argues that the practice of smallholding is more efficient and less environmentally degrading than that of industrial agriculture which depends heavily on fossil fuel, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. He presents a convincing case for his argument with examples taken from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, and demonstrates that there are fundamental commonalities among smallholder cultures. "Smallholders, Householders" is a detailed and innovative analysis of the agricultural efficiency and conservation of resources practiced around the world by smallholders.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“In all cases, regime shifts in land system productivity are driven not by technological innovations in themselves but rather by demographic or social demands for surplus production or reduced labor inputs, usually well after the requisite technologies have become widely available (45).”
From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [45]
In the citing paper
“By this model, hunter-gatherer’s use of fire to enhance foraging success is a form of land-use intensification, as is land clearing for shifting cultivation, wet rice cultivation, the moldboard plow, and contemporary use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and mechanization (44, 45).”
From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [45]
In the citing paper
“In less densely populated regions, agricultural productivity was generally much lower, as in the pre- and postcolonial Americas, Australia, and New Zealand (44, 45, 74).”
From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [45]
In the citing paper
“Agricultural yields within the most densely populated and productive preindustrial land-use systems compared well with modern yields and were sustained in some regions for centuries to millennia, even though they also tended to require extreme inputs of labor and other socially unsustainable hardships (43–45, 92).”
From Used planet: a global history (2013) · cites this paper as [45]
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 701–747 of 747
(2014) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9780822376460-003
Sluyter, A., & Siemens, A. H. (2004) · Agriculture and Human Values · doi:10.1023/b:ahum.0000029394.78035.78
Agricultural Practice: Transformation Through Time
Bruno, M. C. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_72
Hirth, K. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108859707.016
(2011) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9780822394266-009
Wood, J. W. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781139519700.015
(2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108859707.015
Barthel, S. (2014) · doi:10.1002/9781118378625.ch25
(2014) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9780822376460-008
Hirth, K. (2020) · doi:10.1017/9781108859707.013
Du lamidalisme à la lamidalité du pouvoir au Nord-Cameroun
Nyelade, R. A., & Zhang, D. (2023) · Social Science Information · doi:10.1177/05390184231172701
Schreer, V. (2023) · CABI eBooks · doi:10.1079/9781800620117.0030
de Molina, M. G., & Toledo, V. M. (2023) · Environmental history · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-48411-7_12
Moran, E. F. (2016) · People and Nature · doi:10.1002/9781394261352.ch2
James, N., Winter‐Schuh, C., Kenoyer, J. M., et al. (2024) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2024.08.15.607704
Tirado, J. B. (2024) · Reti medievali e-book · doi:10.36253/979-12-215-0562-7.11
Redin, C., Miranda, T. M., & Coelho-de-Souza, G. (2025) · Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional · doi:10.20396/san.v31i00.8677289
Seemise, T. H., Maditsi, M. E., & Muedi, H. T. H. (2025) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/979-8-3693-7964-6.ch009
A Global Study of the Ecological Dimensions of Hazards: An Ethnographic ApproachPreprint
King, S., Heckelsmiller, C., Ember, C. R., et al. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5258298
Extrinsic mortality is not the same as diminishing marginal returns on mortality reduction
Jones, J. H. (2025) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x25100915
King, S. K., Heckelsmiller, C., Ember, C. R., et al. (2025) · International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction · doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105950
Animal Intensification at Neolithic Gritille
Monahan, B. H. (2006) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-32762-4_7
Comparing Local Transitions Across The Developing World
Ringhofer, L. (2009) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-90-481-3487-8_6
Scale, Nature, and Timing of Agricultural Adaptations in Upland Kaʻū
Quintus, S., Filimoehala, D., Walker, C., Murakami, G. M., & Todd, S. R. (2026) · Journal of Pacific Archaeology · doi:10.70460/jpa.v16i2.394
Cois, E. (2026) · Nomadic Peoples · doi:10.3828/whpnp.63904085203751
Pandya, P., Desai, M., & Ghosh, D. (2026) · Built Heritage · doi:10.1186/s43238-026-00248-w
Les sources du vertige : ethnologie de fragments de vies en pays tupuri (Cameroun et Tchad)
Violon, C. (2019) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/6a1c1421zd8adz4921z831az0124e68c9e88
Agriculture précolombienne dans le pacifique colombo-équatorien
Ariza Pareja, M. A. (2026) · doi:10.70675/858d242dz87b5z4412z9b21z64dec129e4db
Shi, C. H., & Haag, C. E. (2026) · Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · doi:10.1007/s10816-026-09787-z
Technological and Strategic Superiority: An Analysis
Ramesh, S. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-24041-5_4
Food System Change, Development, and Vulnerability in Semi‐Agricultural Areas of Tibet
Gezang, C. (2026) · Culture Agriculture Food and Environment · doi:10.1111/cuag.70028
Liu, A., Nie, H., 刘永连, et al. (2026) · Cogent Food & Agriculture · doi:10.1080/23311932.2026.2689231
Mathez, A., & Vandaele, M. (2026) · VertigO · doi:10.4000/16g87
Corzón, S. T., Refojos, B. X. C., & Prats, I. S. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-10252421/v1
Luo, W., Zhang, C., Cao, D., et al. (2026) · Human Ecology · doi:10.1007/s10745-026-00751-9
Roots of Reconciliation: The Emergence of Environmental Peacebuilding
Serrat, O. (2026) · SpringerBriefs in political science · doi:10.1007/978-981-92-4028-9_1
Fifty years of research have deepened uncertainties in global irrigation water withdrawals
Puy, A., Aguiló‐Rivera, C., Linga, S. N., Clarke, N., Richards, O., Flinders, S., & Melsen, L. A. (2026) · Nature Water · doi:10.1038/s44221-026-00710-0
Das industrielle sozialökologische Regime und globale Transitionen
Fischer‐Kowalski, M., & Weisz, H. (2008) · Vieweg+Teubner eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-8351-9225-6_17
Metadata
- Authors
- Netting, R. M.
- Corresponding author
- Netting, Robert McC.
- Venue
- Stanford University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Stanford University Press
- Published
- 1993-09-01
- OpenAlex
- W4206967838
- Cited by
- 756
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 65 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 49.26
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Stanford University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Development › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
- Social Sciences › Development › Rural Development and Agriculture
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture
- Keywords
- smallholder farming, small farms, industrial agriculture, agricultural efficiency, environmental degradation, resource conservation, fossil fuels, mineral fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, evolution of agriculture, household farming
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
