Pe'ah 017

11:
For several reasons a farmer might decide that for a season he will leave part of his land fallow: that is to say that he will not work that soil at all for a while. Fallow land, between two other tracts of land that are being worked, constitutes a boundary and the areas adjoining it – areas that are being harvested – constitute two different fields for the purposes of Pe'ah.

12:
The same consideration applies to land that has been ploughed but not sown: if it adjoins other tracts of land that are being harvested the ploughed land serves as a boundary between them and they constitute two (or more) separate fields for the purposes of Pe'ah.

13:
If a farmer has divided his plot of land into sections and is growing different crops in each section, not unreasonably the sages see each section as a different field for the purposes of Pe'ah. If the farmer has wheat, barley and rye growing on his land why should not the poverty-stricken be entitled to harvest separately all three crops?

14:
The Seifa [last clause] of our mishnah presents a maĥloket [difference of opinion] between Rabbi Me'ir and the rest of the sages. Rabbi Me'ir holds that if part of a field has been deliberately harvested by the farmer before the crop was entirely ready for harvesting the land already harvested (prematurely) constitutes a boundary. (The farmer would act in this way in order to provide hay and fodder for his animals.) The rest of the sages do not agree, however, and hold that the harvested section of the land will only constitute a boundary if it has also been ploughed up after harvesting; failing that, it is just a part of the same field which is being harvested at different times and does not constitute a boundary. Rambam, in his commentary on our mishnah states that in this maĥloket halakhah follows (as it usually does in such circumstances) the view of the sages.

15:
There is an additional view quoted in the Gemara [Pe'ah 16d-17a] that if the crop which was prematurely harvested was intended for human consumption (and not just for animals) it is subject to Pe'ah. (Certain cereals were harvested before they were fully ripe for the purposes of roasting.)

Harvesting is but a small part of the labor required to produce a crop. What about tilling, sowing, weeding, cultivating, watering etc.? Was there any mechanism or custom by which the non-landed class shared in these activities?

I was responding to your point about the needy not merely being given food, but essentially sharing in the work (i.e. the harvesting) to obtain it. The point I was trying to make is that this "sharing in the work" should be kept in proportion. The effect of Pe'ah is not only that the needy share in the products of the land, but also in the labor of the land-owner, who tilled, sowed, weeded, cultivated, watered, etc.

I respond:

The only way in which the poor could exercise their right to the crop was in the harvesting stage. They had neither right nor duty to assist in the agricultural labours that must precede the harvest. (As I pointed out in my previous response, it is unlikely – but not impossible – that they would have taken part in these labours even as hired hands since mostly the work was done as a family enterprise.)

Reuven has another comment. In Pe'ah 011 I had written:

Fruit trees are not usually 'harvested' – in the sense that their fruit is removed and collected in an organized manner once in the season. It is more usual for their fruit to be picked in a haphazard manner throughout the season.

Reuven Boxman comments:

In my experience, this statement is not true today, and I doubt it was true in mishnaic times either. Most fruit trees that I am familiar with have a rather short period (a few weeks) during which the fruit is at its optimum ripeness. If the tree is part of a commercial plantation, the fruit is certainly harvested in an organized manner once in the season. This would certainly apply to a mishnaic period farmer as well, if his intention was to market the produce, or to process the produce (e.g. pickling, drying, etc.) for later use (e.g. olives). On the other hand, if only household use of the fresh fruit was intended, then indeed the members of the household would be apt to harvest on an as-needed or as-wanted basis. There are some fruit trees that bear over an extended time, but they are rather the exceptions rather than the rule. Some citrus fruits, for example, though generally harvested commercially today at one time, can remain on the tree for a longer period of time while ripe, maybe up to 2 months.