This book edited collection presents a diverse and comprehensive examination of the history of Latin American agriculture over the last 150 years. This first volume focuses on transversal and general issues that have faced Latin American agriculture from 1870 to 2020, demonstrating patterns of structural transformation that have emerged over decades. Chapters focus on the history of agrarian reforms, environmental resources, the labour market and the role of gender, agricultural trade, production and productivity and non-farming rural activities in the sector, as well as understudied emergent topics such as environmental degradation in long-run perspective and regional agricultural processes. The volume introduces readers to a set of key contexts in which to understand intertwined histories of agriculture on a national scale. The book will be a valuable resource for scholars of economic and agricultural history, as well as development economics and Latin American economic policy.

Miguel Martín-Retortillo is Associate Professor of Economic History at the University of Alcala, Spain. His academic interests are related to agriculture and its main transformations in a long-term perspective. The focus of his research has been in European and Latin American agriculture.

Vicente Pinilla is Professor in Economic History at the University of Zaragoza and researcher at the Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragon, in Spain. His research interests are in international trade, agricultural products, long-term agricultural changes, environmental history, wine economics and depopulation processes and policies.

Jackeline Velazco-Portocarrero is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Girona (Spain) and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Her research examines long-term agrarian productivity, the role of agriculture in economic growth, evolving urban–rural linkages, and the significance of non-farm activities.

Henry Willebald is Full Professor of Economic History at the Instituto de Economía, Universidad de la República (Uruguay). His research interests are in modern economic growth in settler economies and Latin American countries, diverse dimensions of economic development at national and regional level, inequality, productive specialization, natural resources and sustainability.