Contesting Agriculture

Hans C. Buechler is Professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University and Judith-Maria Buechler is Professor of Anthropology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Together they are the coeditors of Migrants in Europe: The Role of Family, Labor, and Politics.

"We get to meet people, and we learn about the dilemmas they face in their lives, as well as their view of the crisis period they went through in the initial years of the change. This is a remarkably sympathetic book in the best sense of the term. The authors are greatly at ease in the region. They are native speakers, and one of them comes from a family in the area. As a result, one gains wonderful bonus insights into life in the area and into rural East German culture." — Gavin Smith, University of Toronto"The book is resoundingly empirical. The authors have interviewed thirty subjects, or 'consultants,' in their study area, and have allowed them to inform the scholarship. Their voices resonate throughout, their experiences shout from the pages, and their data are there in voluminous quantity." — Alexander Moore, University of Southern California

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsChronology 1. Introduction The SettingMethodology 2. Identities PART I: THE COMMUNIST PERIOD 3. The History of Collectivization in Agriculture 4. The LPG IntroductionThe Mass Production Model in AgricultureThe Dynamics of Planning: Rationales and IrrationalitiesProduction Quotas and ExportThe Organization of Agricultural TasksLocal ResponsesInconsistencies in the Distribution of Farm EquipmentShowcase ProjectsCommunal TasksCapital Investments and DebtCompensationSupplementing Wages: Individual Production by LPG MembersThe Family as Source of IdentificationLeisureThe LPG AdministrationFarm Manager Identities PART II. THE POST-COMMUNIST PERIOD Introduction: The Aftermath of Reunification The Crash in the Markets: Panic PurchasesNew Markets and Pricing StructuresGovernment Supports and Useless Feasibility PlansThe Maze of Legal Forms of OwnershipRights to Compensation and to Decide on the Future of the Cooperatives 5. The Cooperative Solution Legal OptionsThe Cooperative Managers' Opinion of West German-Style CooperativismThe Transition to West German-Style Cooperatives: Process and TimingThe New LeadershipCarrying Out CompensationImpediments: Access to LandLeasing from IndividualsThe Issue of BuildingsSet-Aside ProgramsThe Carryover of Debt Incurred During the GDRA Case of FailureProspects 6. The New Cooperatives: Continuity and Change Restructuring ActivitiesInvestment in Buildings and MachineryCrop ProductionLivestock ProductionMarketsReducing the WorkforceWage Levels and Working ConditionsThe Cooperatives' Relationship to CommunitiesProspects 7. The Eastern Independent Farmers Obtaining LandMachineryInvestmentDivision of Labor and the Employment of Outside LaborCrop Production and Its Link to Market DemandLivestock ProductionProspectsConclusion 8. The Western Farmers Adapting to Life in the EastAccess to LandInvestmentPersonnel and Division of LaborCrop Production and MarketingLivestock Production and MarketingSuppliers and MarketsCommunity Relations 9. The Service/Industrial Context of Agriculture: Linkages and Permutations SuppliersA ServicemanClientsThe Nature of Economic NetworksConvergences and Divergences between Farmers and Their Associates 10. Conclusion NotesGlossaryBibliographyIndex