This article introduces this special issue on the rapid transformation of the agrifood industry in developing countries and its effects on small farmers. We review the literature from the late 1980s to the present and find evidence first of food processing then retail transformation, and mixed evidence of impacts on small farmers, both inclusion (particularly with "resource-providing contracts") and exclusion (sometimes from scale-constraint, sometimes from inadequate non-land assets). The special issue papers contribute to the debate by confirming the mix of cases of inclusion and exclusion. The cases are main in horticulture and dairy, key hopes for smallholder development. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.