Changing perspectives: Small-scale farmers, markets and globalisation

This paper, the first in a series from the Hivos/IIED Knowledge Programme Small Producer Agency in the Globalised Market, maps and summarises the debate on small-scale farmers and their relationships to globalised and globalising markets. It documents evolving views of small-scale farming as the process of globalisation evolves and looks at how small-scale farmers have navigated the changes brought about by globalisation. It describes five broad narratives to on how different actors see small-scale farmers in the context of globalising markets and explores how the 2007-2008 global food crisis and its aftermath have challenged these narratives.