Agricultural Revolution Flashcards
In the early nineteenth-century, how much more productive was the British agricultural labour force than the French?
the British agricultural labour force was 1/3 more productive than the French
How does the British output per man in agriculture in the early nineteenth-century compare to the Russian?
The British rate of output per man was 2x more than the Russian
What is the general claim within the historiography of the agricultural revolution?
Most link high efficiency with the peculiarity of British agricultural and economic institutions
What were the three main changes which occurred in/ propagated the agricultural revolution?
Open fields were enclosed, farm sizes increased significantly, and tenancies became general.
Why is agriculture commonly claimed to have been integral to the IR?
Agriculture is often considered integral to the IR because it increased output and provided industrialisation with labour and capital factor inputs.
What is the main point of contention within the historiography of the agricultural revolution?
The main historiographical disagreements fall on the timing and nature of the agricultural revolution.
What is the general consensus among most twentieth-century historians regarding the agricultural revolution?
It occurred before 1700 and was not attached to increased enclosures and farm sizes
How does British output per agricultural worker in 1700 compare to that of France?
Output per worker in agriculture by 1700 already exceeds France by 15%
How does Robert Allen characterise the early to mid nineteenth century?
As a time of ‘sustained improvement’
What are the two main interpretations of the agricultural revolution in the eighteenth century?
either as a period of stasis or as a period of steady progress
What are the key aspects of the agricultural revolution?
productivity growth, the rural social structure, and the role of agriculture in wider economic development
What was the general state of farm prices in the eighteenth century?
They fell 1725-50, and then erratically increased until the 1790s
What was the general state of corn prices in the latter half of the eighteenth century?
they were 2x, if not 3x their normal price in 1795, 99, 1800 - this remained high throughout the Napoleonic Wars
When was there an acceleration in enclosures and why?
From 1750 onwards, because of rising farm prices
What was the general dispersion of agricultural activity in the eighteenth century?
80% of agricultural land was in England and Wales, and this produced 89% of total agricultural output
What was the state of open field farming (i.e. the medieval system)?
There was a rigid divide between arable and pasture lands, 3-field crop rotation and varying sizes of commons dependent upon population density
What was the 3 field system?
Plot 1 would have wheat or rye; plot two barley, oats, beans or peas; plot three would be fallow
How does Robert Allen describe enclosure farms?
‘Enclosure farming was the antithesis of the open field system’
What did enclosures lead to in terms of farming practice?
Enclosures created consolidated blocks of private property, thus exclusive control of land use
What percentage of agricultural land was open field in 1700, what about in 1914?
in 1700 29% of English farmland was open field, by 1914 only 5% was.
Where was the enclosure movement most intense?
Enclosures were most intense in the midlands
How did enclosure occur?
Via parliamentary act, usually required 75/80% of land’owners’ to be in agreement, then a surveyor would be sent to ensure everyone received appropriately valued land
How many acts were there for how many acres of open field land?
3093 acts for 4.5m acres of open field land
How many acts were there for how many acres of common pasture and waste land?
2172 acts for 2.3m acres of common pasture and waste land.
What was the average farm size in 1700?
65 acres, although southern farms tended to be bigger
What was the average farm size in 1800? What had changed?
150 acres in the south, 100 acres in the north. Small freeholds had been bought up by large estates.
Who claimed that in the eighteenth-century ‘the formerly yeoman lands passed into the hands of the gentry and aristocracy’?
Robert Allen
What did the emergence of the great estate mean for rural social structures?
The establishing of great estates led to the creation of the landlord/tenant/labourer hierarchy
What can be said of contemporary agricultural opinion?
Many, such as Arthur Young, thought that enclosures were a prerequisite to modernisation
What did contemporary Arthur Young claim about wealthy farmers?
They are ‘able to work great improvements in his business’
Where did contemporary opinion on enclosures diverge?
On the question of how they impacted employment
What were the two ways enclosures were said to impact employment?
That the expulsion of agricultural labourers created a manufacturing workforce, and that there was an increase in employment because of the now intensive cultivation
What contemporary opinion has become entrenched in historiography of the agricultural revolution’s impact on employment? What is an issue with this?
That the expulsion of workers created a labour force for manufacturing - yet many who lost their jobs still did not leave their villages
What are the three approaches to measuring agricultural output?
- Dean and Cole’s approach (considering food intake as static), 2. Crafts (considering it as increasing), 3. Estimating directly from data only, no conjectures.
