Agrarian Revolution

THE AGRARIAN
REVOLUTION
INTRODUCTION
 Agrarian Revolution refers to radical changes
in agricultural practices.
 The roots of the revolution go back as far as
the late medieval period.
 However, it was not until the 18th century
that these transformations really accelerated
and began to drastically change the way
people lived.
 The Agrarian Revolution began in Britain
then spread to the rest of the world.
 Before the revolution, agriculture was
practiced on small scale using simple tools
like sticks, wooden hoes and wooden
ploughs.
 They mainly practiced mono cropping, ie
they grew only one type of crop in the same
place every year
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED
AGRARIAN REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN
 One of the key factors that brought about
agrarian revolution was land consolidation
and enclosure system.
 Land consolidation was the process of
merging small parcels of land to form big
farms.
 Land enclosure was the act by which large
tracts of land were fenced.
 In the Middle Ages most land was farmed by
individual farmers who each had a strip of a
large, open field.
 Since land was used 'in common', changing
land use was not easily implemented, and
changes in farming practice were slow to be
implemented.
 Several Acts of British parliament were
passed between 1730 and 1820 to facilitate
land enclosure.
AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE LAND
ENCLOSURE SYSTEM
ADVANTAGES OF LAND
ENCLOSURE SYSTEM
 The land enclosure system had the following
advantages.
 The landowners were able to implement new
farming practices, which included the
following.
 Regulated stock breeding,
 Controlled crop rotation, and
 More efficient production on marginal
farmland.
 It encouraged agricultural specialization.
 Before 1750, most people were subsistence
farmers.
 This means that they produced only what
they needed to survive.
 Across Britain, families each grew a little
corn, some root vegetables and kept a few
animals.
 Enclosure allowed farmers to specialize in
the crops or animals best suited to their local
climate, soil and terrain.
 For example, the flat fertile land in East
Anglia was ideal for wheat; fruit trees
flourished best in Kent, while the hills of
Wales were great for sheep farming.
DISADVANTAGES OF LAND
ENCLOSURE SYSTEM
 The land enclosure system had the following
disadvantages.
 Many poor farm laborers were rendered
redundant due to mechanization of farming.
 Peasant farmers lost their land and became
landless.
 Rural working classes were often forced to
move to industrial urban areas to find work.
 Led to emigrants to other new lands, such as
USA, Australia and New Zealand.
INTRODUCTION OF NEW
FARMING TOOLS
 Equally important were the introduction of
new farm machinery, such as the wheeled
seed drill, which mechanized the traditional
practice of scattering seeds by hand.
 Another innovation was the horse hoe, a tool
to eradicate weeds between rows of crops.
 Iron tools replaced earlier wooden ones - the
iron plough was a big advance on the wooden
plough.
 The horse drawn seed drill was invented by
Jethro Tull.
NEW FARMING TECHNIQUES
 The Medieval rotation system in which fields
were left fallow between planting with grain
crops had been used in English agriculture for
centuries.
 During the Agrarian Revolution, the use of two
new crops (turnips and clover) on which cattle
could be fed had a double impact on soil
fertility.
 The vegetable Turnip was effective in
suppressing weeds, was a food staple and
provided food for cattle which in turn added
manure to the soil and thus nitrogen.
 Clover added nitrogen back to the soil
through it’s roots.
 Thus the need to leave fields fallow in order
to allow nitrogen to be absorbed from the
atmosphere back into the soil had gone.
 Thus, more livestock could be kept, soil
fertility increased and much more food could
be produced.
 Fertilizers were also used.
 In1764, Joseph Elkington of Warwickshire
developed use of deep trenches for under
drainage of sloping land.
 This was important because it meant that
land that was subject to flooding by the
bursting of springs could in effect drain
itself.
 This is a technique we still use today.
FORMATION OF AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETIES
 Between 1723-1731, Agricultural Societies
began to be formed.
 They were used for spreading modern
agricultural knowledge to farmers.
 They aimed to promote improvements by
testing new methods, crops and machinery.
 Examples were the Scottish Society of
Improvers and the Dublin Society.
 They both offered prizes to encourage
innovation in farming.
 Establishment of the Royal Agricultural
Society in 1838 was another factor that led
to agrarian revolution in Britain. This society
published journals which disseminated new
ideas and techniques of farming
MODERN LIVESTOCK BREEDING
TECHNIQUES
 Enclosure allowed farmers to control the

breeding of their livestock because the
animals could be separated into different
fields.
 The farmer could then select the best
individuals to breed from in order to produce
the biggest, healthiest offspring.
 Selective breeding of livestock led to
increased animal products.
 The new fodder crops also helped farmers
produce more meat, as they could now keep
most of their animals through the winter,
instead of slaughtering many at a young age.
 As a result, cattle more than doubled in
weight and sheep more than tripled between
1710 and 1795.
 Enclosure also prevented the spread of
disease from one herd to another.
DEMAND FOR AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCTS
 The Industrial Revolution also encouraged
Agrarian Revolution as follows.
 Due to the Industrial Revolution, there was
demand for food by the growing urban
working population.
 There was demand for agricultural raw
materials for processing industries such as
textile and sugar factories.
EFFECTS OF THE AGRARIAN
REVOLUTION
 There was rapid population increase due to
abundant food supply.
 In 1750 English population stood at about 5.7
million.
 It had probably reached this level before, in
the Roman period, then around 1300, and
again in 1650.
 But at each of these periods the population
ceased to grow, essentially because
agriculture could not respond to the pressure
of feeding extra people.
 Contrary to expectation, however,
population grew to unprecedented levels
after 1750, reaching 16.6 million in 1850,
and agricultural output expanded with it.
IT LED TO INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
 Improved agricultural production made the
industrial revolution possible in many ways.
 First farm mechanization led to high labour
supply in the industries.
 For example, by 1850 only 22 per cent of the
British workforce was in agriculture.
 There was enough supply of cheap
agricultural raw materials to industries as a
result of Agrarian revolution.
 Cheap agricultural raw materials reduced the
cost of production; thus, leading to high
profit margins to industrialists.
 Greater productivity also meant higher
income for the farming community and this
extended their purchasing power for
manufactured goods.
 This helped to expand domestic market and
to boost the industrial growth.
RURAL TO URBAN MIGRATION
 Mechanization of farming led to
unemployment.
 As a result, jobless people moved to towns
to get jobs.
 Moreover, establishment of large scale
farming to replace subsistence farming
created a class of landless people.
 Some of the landless peopele became farm
laborers, while others moved to towns and
mines to look for employment.
OVERSEAS MIGRATION
 It resulted to the landless peasants migrating
to other parts of the world eg Canada, South
Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
OTHER EFFECTS INCLUDED
 There was emergence of class of rich people
in the society. This were large-scale farmers
who practiced the enclosure system.
 It led to improvement of transport system for
example road and railways were developed
in the countryside to facilitate movement of
farm inputs and produce.
 It enhanced research and scientific
innovations to cater for the increased needs
of farmers.
 Promotion of local and international trade
due to sale of surplus agricultural produce
and products.
 Improved methods of farming that led to
increased food production, which resulted to
improved standards of living.
 The price of the land in Britain increased
considerably.

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THE AGRARIAN

 Enclosure allowed farmers to control the

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