The idea for this discussion originated in a wooden cabin in the Dutch polders in the late summer of 2015. Harriet Friedmann responded enthusiastically to my observation that the International Rural Sociology Association (IRSA)'s 2016 conference in Toronto would coincide with the 50th anniversary of the publication of two landmark books which had defined new poles of debate in peasant studies: Peasants (Wolf 1966) by Eric Wolf (1922-2009), and The theory of peasant economy (Chayanov 1966), the first English translation of parts of the work of the Russian 'social agronomist' Alexander Chayanov (1888-1937). Both of these books had great influence on us, and on many others, at the time; and the debate between the two traditions which they represent, and their implications for agrarian policies and agrarian movements, continues to the present. We therefore proposed a panel discussion to mark this anniversary and to consider what has stayed the same, and what has changed, in the last 50 years of agrarian thought and agrarian politics. The organisers enthusiastically picked up the idea, elevating it from 'panel' to plenary and inviting us to organize the first plenary session of the conference, with the title 50 years of debate on peasantries, 1966-2016. The present panel, minus Jun Borras, matches our original wish list.