As I was growing up, smallholders were people like us, who had a few acres beside the house. They often kept hens, ducks, goats or sheep and invariably grew vegetables.  Little has changed in the intervening years except that smallholders were forgotten - for about 20 years.

We're gaining recognition again and with very good reason.  Modern agriculture has proved itself - to be productive, to produce cheap food (because of European subsidies), to create an enormous carbon footprint and leave the soil it uses depleated.  The current trend towards the genetic modification of seed and its use, the spectre of Monsanto and use and effects of herbicides and pesticides will be discussed in a later article...

BBC's Gardeners World, presenter: Monty Don has this to say about us... "smallholders, from being perceived as peripheral figures, now have a key role to play and are a model of how to practically produce food at a time of increasing concern about food security." ...Monty Don (Country Smallholders Magazine)