Highland Farmers in the Market Economy of Seeds and Field Corn Produces

Abstract

This article indicates the negotiation of farmer in one community in Mae Jam, Chiang Mai, in the trade procedure of field corn seeds and produces. This article argues against the idea that small farmers were drawn into commercial production and market mechanism because of their ignorance. The article argues that small farmers will try to negotiate and create their own choice, be able to survive beneath the conditions and pressures confronting them. 

Moreover, the article discusses some actors in the field corn production and trade on highland, not just as ‘ethnic group’. These actors are considered as the components and mechanism of the market network that bring local production system to become a part of global market. “Frontier” and “ambiguity” of boundary in forest conservation law helps contribute to the growth of market mechanism into the highland. The empirical data in this article reveals the complexity of “hill tribe” highland production.