WHAT CHANGED????

15TH CENTURY FARMING

18TH CENTURY FARMING

THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

PRIOR TO THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

OPEN FIELD SYSTEM • Cooperative plowing• Conserved the quality of land• Balanced distribution of good

land• Farmers were part of a “team”• Gleaning

What are the positives and

negatives to this system?

ENCLOSUREEach landowner

received a single piece of property

No common lands

Open Field System

How was Enclosure better than the Open Field

System?

ENCLOSURELarge Land Owners

Had the political strength to pass The Enclosure Law

Owned large unified farms under this systemFarming was more efficientDidn’t need consent of the village to

experiment with new crop methods

ENCLOSURESmall Landowners

FORCED OFF THEIR LANDCould not afford the:

Required fencingA team of oxen

Could no longer glean or gather woodSold plots to large landowners:

Forced to Rent orWork for someone else

Increasing the # of men looking for work

NEW TECHNOLOGYMinus the restrictions of the

Open Field System – new technology and new farming techniques were implemented.

The Seed Drill – Jethro Tull

Planted seed in neat rows

Improved germination

Reduced amount of seed used in planting

THE SEED DRILL

Additional Machines Horse-drawn cultivator – Jethro Tull Cast-iron plow (1797) – American Charles Newbold Reaper – Englishman Joseph Boyce (1799) and American Cyrus

McCormic (1834) Self-cleaning steel plow – John Deere(1837) Thresher – separated grain from stalk Harvester – cut and bind grain Combine - cut, thresh, and sack grain Tractor – pulled equipment through the field Corn planter Potato digger Electric milker Cotton picker

Scientific AgricultureCrop Rotation

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

The Effects of the Agricultural Revolution

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

6. The number of farmers, in proportion to total population, decreased sharply

7. Many farmers moved to the cities

8. The population of cities increased rapidly

9. Farmers found their work less difficult because machines performed the back breaking labor

10. Farming changed from a self-sufficient way of life to big business