Theory of the square chicken: advances in agricultural intensification theory

Scientific understanding of agricultural change has grown considerably since Boserup’s seminal 1965 work, but her model’s simplicity has provided a foundation for building more complex understandings of farming societies. Much of the development of these more sophisticated understandings has been led by Harold Brookfield. The first section of this paper summarises our current understanding of the salient points of commonality in intensive smallholder systems. The second section looks at findings from studies that relax Boserupian constraints, revealing new kinds of variability in agricultural systems. Both sections stress the need for continued research on the politicaleconomic context of agricultural intensification.