Could several figs growing in the ground (lots of sun; well protected etc.) realistically
be pruned and maintained around 6' tall or less?  The enclosure we built around our
blueberries - upright posts and bird netting - has worked well, but maybe blueberries
are smaller.

Yes.

hi John

i don't see why you couldn't keep your tree pruned to that height. I have an in-ground Hardy Chicago that during the summer was probably at about 8 or 9 feet. I took a bunch of cuttings, pruned it back and covered it for winter. It will probably be at or about 6 ft to start the season. Pruning will probably just encourage more branches and more figs!

This can be a source of encouragement: http://www.hawaiifruit.net/aifarm/aifigfarm.html

Thanks all;  Harvey, that's amazing.  Guess if the commercial guys can make it
work at 2' or 3' it should be doable for a single family crop!

   Even if you don't wan't to go for the Japenese espalier method, you can still keep a conventional fig tree small(either in ground or potted) by selective pruning at the end of the growing season(in addition some growers even do a summer pruning on their trees.)   No matter how vigerously my fig tree grows, I still prune it back to about 5ft. at the end of the season.  This enables me to do all the work necessary on the tree without useing a ladder(this includes harvesting the figs, and any detail pruning that I want to do.)
   I once heard a professional grower say:  "It is easier to keep a small tree small then it is to make a large tree small."    So start early in the life of the tree, and keep at it each year.

Yes.

Try:  "Kadota Fig Tree Pruning" -Steve Cosner  ...for plenty of pictures of the pruning process.

Frank