This paper examines the impact of recent structural changes in the agricultural economy in Ghana on young people. It argues that an understanding of the position of young people in the agricultural economy requires a historical analysis of the place of agriculture in the world economy, and the various political alliances into which colonial authorities entered in order to administer rural areas and to control labor. Colonial authorities entrusted control of land and young people to elders and chiefs. This system functioned well in the context of an expanding frontier economy and booming economy, but economic downturn, growing land scarcity, and increased social differentiation have produced increasing turmoil and crisis for young people. Today the family farm is undermined by market factors, and farming is becoming increasingly atomistic as land and labor are increasingly traded between individuals, sometimes even from the same family.