Agricultural Revolution 1750-on
Farming in 1750
•Hadn’t changed since Middle Ages
•V inefficient
•Each farmer grew enough food for themselves
•…and made clothes from wool or flax
•This is called self-sufficient
•This means you looked after your own need…
•…but you didn’t have any extra to sell
Land in a village (or manor)
•Divided into 3 huge fields and a commons
•The commons was open to everyone
•No hedges or fences separating it
•All animals grazed there
•Problem: Disease spread easily between theanimal
•3 Huge Fields
•Each field divided into strips
•Peasant farmers owned one strip in each field
Crop rotation
•Each field grew diff crops each yr
•They swopped the crops grown each yr
•Because there was no fertiliser…
•…one field was given a rest each yr to recover
•This was called ‘fallow’
•System = crop rotation
•Problem? – one field left to waste
•No fences between each farmer’s strip…
•So weeds spread easily
Planting crops
•Plough soil, plant seeds, harvest the crop!
•Farmers used wooden plough to break up the soil
•…then scattered seed by hand
•At harvest time people had to manually get thecrop
•Problems: Wooden ploughs weren’t strong –broke easily
•Birds ate much of the seed
•A lot of waste
Improvements after 1750 - 4-fieldsystem
•Four-field system
•Crop rotation system had wasted 1 field eachyr
•Charles Townshend – invented 4-field systemof crop rotation
•Planted turnip in a field instead of leaving itfallow
•Turnip placed nutrients in the soil
Improvements – 4-field system
•Townshend was nicknamed Turnip Townshend
•All the land could now be used each yr
•The turnips were used to feed cattle in winter
•Benefits: 1. No wasted fields
•2. Cattle became bigger
New Farm Machinery
•Steel ploughs – stronger
•Jethro Tull invented mechanical seed drill
•Planted seeds deep in the ground
•No waste, no birds eating
•Cyrus McCormack – invented mechanicalreaper
•This harvested crops faster
Selective Breeding
Robert Bakewell - New idea to make biggeranimals – why?
…so there would be more meat to eat!
Only allowed big strong animals to mate together
Their offspring (babies) were bigger and stronger
The weaker animals were slaughtered for meat
Animals had doubled in size by Bakewell’s death
Enclosure
The narrow strips of land each farmer had made it difficultto experiment
Why?
you had v little room since you only had 1 strip in each field
weeds spread into your strip without any frences
your animals were not separated on the commons…
…so diseases spread easily
How could there be selective breeding if all the animalsgrazed together?
How could new crops and machines be tried if everyoneplanted same thing in each field?
Wealthier farmers wanted a solution
Enclosure - 2
In 18th c enclosure was introduced by the govt
The 3 big open fields and the commons wereabolished
The land was divided into separate farms foreach farmers
Size of farm depended on your wealth
Each farm was then enclosed – fenced off…
…and subdivided into smaller fields
Drains dug and hedges planted between fields
Enclosure - advantages- 3
•Weeds and diseases could now be controlledin fenced off fields
•Farmers could try new crops and rotations
•Lakes and ditches were drained – made moreland available
•Farmers able to produce more food
•More food available to people…
•So population increased
Disadvantages
Not everyone benefitted
Poor farmers got tiny farms
Not enough land to live on
Labourers who had no land were doomed
They had kept animals on the commons
Now the commons was gone
Also, had worked for farmers during harvest
The mechanical reaper meant they weren’tneeded anymore
Small farmers and labourers left rural areas
Moved to industrial cities to work in factories
Provided a workforce for the industrial revolution
Recap
•Crop rotation 4-field systemturniptownshend
•Old system = 3 large fields + commons sharedby all farmers
•New system = enclosure – fields divided –hedges and ditches
•New machines = Jethro Tull – seed drill
•Cyrus McCormack – mechanical reaper