The Fascinating world of Fields and Farmers

The Agricultural Revolution began in the Low Countries and soon spread to England. Did England steal the Low Countries' agricultural innovations or did the Low countries give them to England? That answer varies depending on who you ask (me or Mr. Yarnall). It is undisputed, however, that the beginning of the revolution centered on the innovations of selective breeding, the elimination of the fallow, and the enclosure of open fields.

In place of the "haphazard union of nobody's son with everybody's daughter", the selective breeding of domesticated animals became the more widely-accepted method among farmers. This method was founded by using observation and critical thinking- two major parts of empiricism. Empiricism, expounded upon by our old friends Hume and Locke, stresses sensory experiences as the basis for all knowledge.

By eliminating the fallow (the period between harvests that was often a year or more), farmers were able to produce a lot more goods than before with the same pieces of land. This was done by using a crop rotation system, adding in nitrogen-storing crops between the main harvests to moisten the earth.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, the system of shared land and common rights among the peasants was replaced with the enclosure of farmland, the innovation of experimental scientists and government officials. This was done in order to farm more effectively with the new rotation method for crops. The peasantry, and even most of the noble landowners, opposed this, however. The peasantry had to sell their small land holdings to pay their share of expenses while the noble landowners had to pay large investments for the enclosures. But did it benefit them in the long run??? The peasants definitely wouldn't think so.

·      English peasant farmers declined in number due to the enclosures and couldn’t compete with the rising group of tenant farmers. However, the new, highly-intensive form of farming and the work involved in closing the land provided many employment opportunities. Historians disagree on whether or not the aristocracy who supported parliamentary enclosure was right or wrong in doing so. However, whether or not Parliament passed these measures was of little importance because it only completed a process already in full swing in England. 

 This painting represents the old, shared system of farming that the peasants preferred. Although many of them complained about the new system, the number of landless peasants only slightly increased with the enclosure of farmlands.

The proletarianization (transformation of large numbers of small peasant farmers into landless rural wage earners) was especially prominent in England. England's social structure devolved into two different classes: those who one things and those who work for pay. This was the price of the Agricultural Revolution. Whether it was worth it or not, again, historians disagree.

The agricultural revolution did have one large effect: population growth. This growth occurred because of the surge in agricultural production and an increase in the average person’s life span, not an increase in the birthing rate. "The Grim reapers of demographic crisis were famine, epidemic, disease and war," and they were not occurring at this time in history.