Four Canadian specialists were commissioned to address themselves to (1) the evolution of agriculture and its consequences on the rural family, (2) the place and responsibility of women in the evolution of agriculture, (3) the problems of education and the professional development of women, and (4) adaptation of the rural family to technical, economic, and social change. The papers emphasized that traditional family patterns are changing in rural Canada and are becoming increasingly similar to life styles of urban families as a result of specialization and industrialization. (JH)