A new study examined how flow of goods, resources and people in global market facilitated farmers’ livelihoods  Can small farmers benefit from globalisation? Can they have better access to natural resources? Boils down to how much agency they have, according to a recent study published in journal Sustainability. Half the world's poor are small farmers, according to some studies. The authors studied 12 smallholder systems in developing countries across the world linked to other systems — near and far — and how the flow of goods, resources and people facilitated the farmers’ livelihoods.