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This paper analyzes the transformation of family farming and the concept of farmer in 15 families from the ejido Benito Juarez, La Concordia, Chiapas. This research begins by referencing the agricultural crisis caused by the adoption of agricultural techniques and models that promote the intensification of production based on the use of agrochemicals, farm machinery, modified seeds and irrigation systems, which result in low agricultural profitability, sale and abandonment of farmland, emergence of vices, transformation of one’s own ideas and knowledge and loss of native seeds. This situation has been exacerbated by government policies and strategies that have favored the individualization of agricultural units, where small producers are left unprotected. This issue has pushed farmers to develop new survival strategies such as temporary employment, emigration and the taking up of farm tasks by young people and women. The transformation from the rural to a new urban model is gradual and unavoidable, so it is necessary to analyze the implications entailed by this phenomenon and understand that family farming is in a period of transition to a phase of intensive agricultural development, making it necessary to reconsider policy bases and instruments with respect to farming and the ways agricultural research is conducted.

This paper provides elements to identify the spatial arrangement of the agricultural sector during the so-called Porfiriato, represented by the large estates and their linkage with the mining dynamics prevailing during this period developed by the Mining District (DM), the largest, oldest and most productive of the institution itself and the country: Real del Monte-Pachuca. By the logic of the type of productive articulation, satellite hinterland economies, which link these economies, integrating them closely and functionally to the dynamics of the mining centers, the functionality of Hidalguense agricultural space can be explained. The concentration of land ensured a regular supply of grain, wood and animals needed for mining production. The territorial division of production was thus cemented, as the agricultural node and miner population centers in the state were defined, both paradoxically with different scenarios of population settlement, although linked directly and indirectly by the laying of railway lines and labor. The explanation of this phenomenon has to do with the productive dependence of the Hidalgo economy on the mining shaft, which not only defined the productive relationship, the use of the basic infrastructure and its relationship with the outside world, but also the legal land grabbing and the poor labor and quality of life conditions for both the mineworker and the peasant.

Surveys were applied to members of the Union of Tosepan Titataniske Cooperatives in communities of Cuetzalan municipality, Puebla, about the knowledge and technology that they as indigenous people retain to generate food on their land. The inhabitants of this area know the land they work intimately, easily identifying in Nahuatl its physical and fertility properties. Average annual corn yields are 1.57 t/ha. Their crops are subject to the soil and climate factors of the region, such as strong winds, rains and high slopes. Their knowledge and technology that shows how to work in the field to produce food have endured over the years in these communities.

Mexico is considered the center of origin of the genus Agave, which includes over 200 species, most of which are endemic to Mexico. Among these, the maguey pulquero (Agave spp.) stands out, since it is adapted to conditions of low rainfall, frequent frosts and poor soils that occur in large parts of the Mexican Central Plateau. Mixed research combining quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted. Different municipalities with a pulquera tradition in the states of Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Mexico, Puebla and Veracruz were toured. Social research techniques were applied through participant observation, open interviews, the ethnographic method and a survey. Whether the use of maguey pulquero is a viable option that can contribute to the development of rural communities was examined. It is concluded that the production of maguey provides multiple environmental services and that if it is used in a comprehensive manner, with proper techniques, and if appropriate marketing channels are sought out, it can help trigger the sustainable development of rural communities in the central Mexican Central Plateau.

This research evaluated the effect of two coffee propagation methods, by ungrafted rootstock and grafting, on agronomic, bean and cup quality. C. arabica is grafted onto the rootstock of C. canephora in order to tolerate nematode infestation, since the latter has a better root system than the former. The research results indicate that in comparing the two propagation methods, in terms of the average coffee bean production per plant, the ungrafted rootstock approach was better; in the diagnosis of the structure of production, the ungrafted rootstock method presented a higher percentage of physical faults than grafting; for bean and cup quality there were differences and the ungrafted rootstock propagation method was better than the grafting one; in aromatic descriptors most varieties differed as a result of the propagation method. Therefore, the propagation methods affected the agronomic, bean and cup qualities of coffee.

In Pomacuarán, a P’urhépecha community in Michoacán, deforestation is associated with disorganized timber harvesting mainly started by men in the 80s in order to earn income and fulfil their role as household or domestic unit (DU) providers. The wood was sold in the regional market for fruit box, flooring and furniture purposes. Many times the income did not benefit the DU. This process explains the current conditions of the forestry resources. Women have been limited to the use of non-timber resources such as firewood, fungi, flowers, medicinal plants and water management, which are necessary to satisfy the material needs of the DU. Nowadays, forestry activities are less important than agriculture, livestock, and service activities in the family life strategies (FLE). This is due to the deforestation process, where wood forestry resources do not represent income and employment sources. The sexual division of work in the DU defines productive activities for men and reproductive activities for women. However, women in Pomacuarán participate in productive activities like agriculture, forestry restoration, services and employment. Forestry restoration does not offer tangible results in the short term for environmental conservation, employment and income, and the social pressure on forestry resources is continuous. In addition, forestry restoration should consider women interests such as forestry species for firewood and subsistence uses.

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