British Agricultural Revolution

Innovation

  • Origins 17th century:
    • England
    • “Low countries”
  • 18th Century
    • Population explosion

All SET

  • The keys to understanding the Agricultural Revolution
    • **==S==**cience
    • **==E==**ntrepreneurship
    • **==T==**echnology
ScienceScience
  • Farmer
    • Three-Field Crop Revolution (Middle Ages)
    • Oats
    • Wheat
    • Fallow
    • Four-Field Crop Revolution (17th Century)
    • Wheat
    • Oats
    • Clover
    • Turnip
    • More Fields = More Food
    • The four-field system produced a higher crop yield because none of the lands had to lie fallow
  • Selective Breeding
    • the application of scientific principles to agriculture
EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship
  • The Common Pasture
    • The “Old Way”
  • Enclosure Movement
    • The “New Way”
    • Private Property
    • Downside
    • hurt poor farmers who lost grazing rights for their cattle on the common land
    • Upside
    • Agricultural production, as a whole, became more market-oriented and efficient
    • English Poor laws
    • Workhouses provided shelter and employment for the able-bodied poor
    • Bigger Farms = More Food
    • Large landowners were able to make use of the latest developments in science and technology, producing higher crop yields
TechnologyTechnology
  • Jethro Tull’s Seed Drill
    • Horse-drawn seed drill made sowing seeds more efficient and precise
  • United States
    • The Sower
    • Jefferson’s Moldboard Plow
    • Math Textbooks
    • Threshing what
    • Portable Threshing Machine
  • Better Tools = More Food
  • Technological inventions resulted in more efficient agricultural practices, producing higher crop yields.