The Agricultural Revolution 1750-1900

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The Agricultural Revolution1750-1900

• The Industrial Revolution would not have been
  possible without dramatic changes in farming
  methods.

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What is a Revolution and how can you have a
farming revolution?
But what has that got to do with farming?
A revolution is any fundamental change or
reversal of conditions, a great and sometimes
violent change or innovation
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The Open-field System

• Cooperative plowing
• Conserved the quality of land
• Balanced distribution of good land
• Farmers were part of a team
• Gleaning

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Disadvantages of the old system
People have to walk over your strips to reach
theirs
Field left fallow
Difficult to take advantage of new farming
techniques
No hedges or fences
No proper drainage
Animals can trample crops and spread disease
Because land in different fields takes time to
get to each field
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Enclosure

• Before

• AFTER
• Each landowner received a single piece of
  property
• No common lands

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Large Land Owners (Benefited)

• Had the political strength to pass the enclosure
  law
• Owned large unified farms under this system
• Farming was more efficient
• Didnt need consent of the village to experiment
  with new crop methods.

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Small FarmersForced off Their Land

• Had to pay for
• Required fencing
• A team of oxen
• Could no longer glean or gather wood
• Often had to sell plots to large landowners
• Forced to Rent or
• Work for someone else
• Increasing the of men looking for work

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Improved Farming Tools Methods

• Productivity of land and laborers increases.

• Crop Rotation Fields no longer left fallow, but
  planted w/ crops like clover and turnips that
  replenished nutrients and were used to feed
  animals.

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• More use of Fertilizer. (manure)
• New tools (seed drill, iron plow)

• Larger food supply Population increased.
• Fewer farm workers needed.

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The Seed Drill (1700)

• Planted seed in neat rows
• Improved germination by making furrow, dropping
  seed into them, and covering them
• Reduced amount of seed used in planting

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Scientific Agriculture

• Crop Rotation
• English gentleman farmer Viscount Charles
  Turnip Townsend
• Alternating grain crops wheat and barley, with
  soil enriching crops turnips and clovers.
• No longer had to leave land fallow

• Scientific Breeding
• 1725-1795
• Selective breeding of animals
• Produced more and better animals
• Produced more milk and meat
• In 1710 the average weight for cattle was 168 Kg
  by 1795 - it was 363 Kg (370pounds 800 pounds)

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Effects

1. The number of farmers, in proportion to total
   population, decreased sharply
2. Many farmers moved to the cities
3. The population of cities increased rapidly
4. Farmers found their work less difficult because
   machines performed the back breaking labor
5. Farming changed from a self-sufficient way of
   life to big business

1. Agricultural production increased
2. Cost of foodstuffs dropped
3. Increased production of food resulted in part, in
   a rapid growth of population
4. Large farms, using machines and scientific
   methods, began to dominate agriculture
5. Number of small farms began to decline