The history, science, and social aspects of today’s Thai agriculture is traced from hunters and gatherers through agro-cities through State-religious Empires and immigrating Tai to produce a sustainable agriculture. The wet glutinous rice culture determined administrative structures in a pragmatic society which regularly produced a saleable surplus. Continuing today, these systems consolidated the importance of rice agriculture to national security and economic well-being, as Chinese and European influence benefited agribusiness and initiated the demand which would expand agriculture through population increase until accessible land was expended. As agriculture declined in relative financial importance, it continued to provide the benefits of employment, crisis resilience, self-sufficiency, rural social support, and cultural custody. Agricultural institutions evolved from a taxation and dispute resolution base to provide research, education, and technology transfer at levels below potential as they supported commercial agriculture funded by credit. Agribusiness expanded from the 1960s and small-holders were partly viewed as a past relic which agribusiness could modernise. Unique elements of Thai agriculture include: irrigation technologies; administrative structures based on water control; global leadership in many agricultural commodities; multinational agribusiness; negotiating approaches; potential for further increases from known technologies, and an open culture which has embraced new ideas. One of the world’s few major agricultural exporters, Thailand leads the world in rice, rubber, canned pineapple, and black tiger prawn production and export, the region in chicken meat export and several other commodities, and feeds more the four times its own population from less intensive agriculture than its neighbours. Poised to benefit from expansion in livestock demand, poverty reduction, and improved education, research, and legal and social systems, evident in the recent Asian financial crisis, will be considered with popular concern for socially sensitive alternatives for small-holder farmers to co-exist with commercial agriculture. Thailand will likely remain one of the world’s major agricultural countries in social, environmental and economic terms for the foreseeable future, as it addresses the continuing rural issues of poverty and inequity.

Farmers in the Forest, while using examples chiefly from northern Thailand, is concerned with complex problems found in all tropical countries. In these areas rapid population growth, increasing demands for food, and burgeoning international markets for forest products and other raw materials are associated with active competition for land and natural resources in upland areas. This book brings together studies by administrators, agronomists, anthropologists, forest ecologists, geographers and jurists, who describe a variety of swidden systems and their effect on soil, forest, society, and economy. They point to conflicts between traditional farming systems and modern legal and administrative constraints now being imposed, and they describe special and technological conditions that contribute to a marginal, stagnant upland economy, increasing socio-economic disparities with the lowlands, and the serious ecological consequences of these conditions. Several possible solutions are suggested to solve these problems.

This book adopts a neo-Marxist and Gramscian approach to studying the political economy of the agricultural and food system in Thailand (1990-2014). The author argues that hegemonic forces have many measures to co-opt dissent into hegemonic structures, and that counter-hegemony should be seen as an ongoing process over a long period of time where predominantly counter-hegemonic forces, constrained by political economic structural conditions, may at times retain some hegemonic elements. Contrary to what some academic studies suggest, the author argues that localist-inspired social movements in Thailand are not insular and anti-globalisation.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1968.

[Foreword] The challenges in agriculture are rapidly increasing with the impact of climate change, land degradation and natural disasters. This is affecting the global food production and supply chain which has been aggravated due to Covid-19 pandemic and this calls for more resilient and sustainable food systems. The Asia-Pacific region which has the largest number of small holder farmers and is trying to meet the sustainable development goals of United Nations has lot of responsibilities to mitigate the challenges. In this scenario Blockchain Technology has come as a respite to contribute as one of the ways to mitigate the challenges. The benefits of Blockchain in agriculture include easy and cheap food batch recalls in case of emergencies, availability of the complete history of the product status, increased customer trust and loyalty, fairer payments, approved vendors, and proper compliance management. The global blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market size estimated at USD 133 million in 2020 is expected to reach USD 948 million by 2025. Factors such as the increasing need to lower operational costs in financial transactions and the reduction of the number of layers required for data sharing and risk management and the regulatory compliances that automate and conduct only authorized transactions are driving the technology adoption. The key drivers to blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market are an increase in demand for the agricultural produce output surge, the use of smart agriculture among the growers or producers, government initiatives to support modern techniques that can be used in agriculture, and rising concerns for food safety among the consumers driving the increase in demand for the transparency in the supply chain. Increase in the popularity of blockchain among retailers/ distributors is due to rise in the tracking and tracing of various food products. Data management and data aggregation are major challenges in the precision farming market. The lack of standardization of the communication interfaces and protocols may result in the misrepresentation of the data. The present volume is intended to collate the information on the status of blockchain in the Asian region with various case studies. APAARIRI is grateful to its member the International Association of Agricultural Sustainability for joining hands in this venture and sincerely acknowledge all the contributors for their excellent chapters on various aspects of blockchain. We also acknowledge the support of Dr KS Varaprasad in his meticulous support in editing of the chapters. We also hope that the present volume will bring more awareness on the status and challenges of blockchain technology in the region to various stakeholders and may help in increased application of the technology. --Ravi Khetarpal, Executive Secretary, APAARI [Contents] Foreword Foreword Preface Preface Chapter 1: Halal Supply Chain 4.0 with Big Data and Blockchain - Rika Ampuh Hadiguna Chapter 2: The Application of Blockchain in Food Safety, Production and Marketing: Taiwan Perspective - Tzong-Ru Lee / Lee-Chung Chen Chapter 3: The Challenges of Agricultural Blockchain: A Review of Policy Steering and Actions in Thailand - Nirote Sinnarong / Olalekan Israel Aiikulola / Thanakorn Sirisugandha Chapter 4: Using Block Chain & Internet of Things (IoT) in Agri-Food Supply Chain Traceability - Lin Jun Chapter 5: Blockchain Technology for Inclusive Development of Agrarian Rural Economy - Sharbendu Banerjee