The Agricultural Revolution

1. The Agricultural Revolution 15th- 18th Century Farming

2. You’re a peasant farmer: • Why are you a farmer? • Where do you farm? • What do you farm? • How do you farm? Traditional Village Farm life – “Farmville” LIterally

3. 3 Field System –semi-collectivist • Cooperative plowing • Conserved the quality of land • Balanced distribution of good land • Rights afforded to peasants in a village • Could sell surplus if there was a market • Farmers were part of a “team” • Gleaning allowed

4. The Netherlands was above the pack in their farming techniques • Limited space in which to farm • Innovative techniques for drainage, increasing crop yields • Use of windmills and better tools • Spread ideas to England by 1700s Revolution in Technologies

5. The Seed Drill (1700) • Planted seed in neat rows • Improved germination by making furrow, dropping seed into them, and covering them • Reduced amount of seed used in planting

6. 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 Additional Machines

8. Scientific Agriculture Scientific Breeding • 1725-1795 • Selective breeding of animals • Produced more and better animals • Produced more milk and meat Crop Rotation • English gentleman farmer Viscount Charles “Turnip” Townsend • Alternating grain crops: wheat and barley, with soil enriching crops: turnips and clovers. • No longer had to leave land fallow

9. http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/VideoActivity.aspx?siteId=14&sectionId=63&contentId=163&titleId=169http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/VideoActivity.aspx?siteId=14&sectionId=63&contentId=163&titleId=169 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9G7XzgG6So Wheat Production

10. Spinning wool into thread by hand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShSIOF0o5js Traditional wool production https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2iY4VFDiZI Sheep shearing – traditional - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L62EmEsacEYmodern - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeQCVGtfjA4 Yarn Production

11. Enclosure • Before • AFTER • Each landowner received a single piece of property • No common lands

12. Landowners had the political strength to pass the enclosure law • Owned large unified farms under this system • Farming was more efficient • Didn’t need consent of the village to experiment with new crop methods Benefits to Landowners

13. Had to pay for : • Required fencing • A team of oxen • Could no longer glean or gather wood • Often had to sell plots to large landowners: • Forced to Rent or • Work for someone else • Increasing the # of men looking for work Small Farmers Forced off Their Land

14. Use your book or your phone to look up the “putting-out” system or domestic system of the cottage industry With a partner or with your table, draw out the steps of the putting out system Repurposing the Peasant

15. How would you classify the lives of the hay farmers in Transylvania? • Why did many people leave the old ways behind during the mid-20th century? • What is lost when people embrace new technologies fully? • Do you sometimes feel as though you would want to escape the modern world for something like this? • Why is there a concerted effort now to continue with this way of life? • How can you relate the issues raised in this article to the Enlightenment and the Agricultural revolution? Read “hay, Beautiful” and then respond:

16. Primogeniture – inheritance law • 1st born son:inherits the estate of the father completely. • 2nd, 3rd, et. al. sons:do not inherit the estate unless 1st born and any other before them die

17. Ancient practice, brought back during feudal era in Medieval Europe to ensure inheritance stayed within family • Consolidated power within the head of the estate or nation (re: royal succession) • remember the lineage issues in 100 Yrs War? Primogeniture’s History

18. The later-born sons would be expected to find their own way in the world • Many joined the monastic life to ensure that their well-being would be provided for • Others set off into the world as explorers and once the “New World” was settled, left to find fortunes elsewhere • Women were typically not considered for inheritance rights, even if they were firstborn. Effects of Primogeniture

19. Effects • The number of farmers, in proportion to total population, decreased sharply • Many farmers moved to the cities • The population of cities increased rapidly • Farmers found their work less difficult because machines performed the back breaking labor • Farming changed from a self-sufficient way of life to big business • Agricultural production increased • Cost of foodstuffs dropped • Increased production of food resulted in part, in a rapid growth of population • Large farms, using machines and scientific methods, began to dominate agriculture • Number of small farms began to decline