A Revolution in Agriculture The Start of the Industrial Revolution in England

A Revolution in Agriculture  Take Cornell Notes on p Remember to use point form, put questions on the left, and underline the key words/ ideas!

A Revolution in Agriculture Why are enclosures needed? What are enclosures? What happened to the common land?  Medieval Farms (small strip per farmer) is inefficient  More Profitable with clear boundaries around large pieces  Result: Enclosures  Enclosures are consolidated land  Lots of enclosures in 1700s  Commons turned into private property  Only rich can buy the “commons”

A Revolution in Agriculture What is the impact on poor farmers when the commons is gone? How dos agriculture change with enclosures?  Poor farmers can’t graze animals on commons anymore  Farmers can’t gather acorns/ wood/ etc. on commons anymore  Poor forced to sell land to rich (can’t survive on small lot)  Enclosures and rich owners = farming becomes a business, not just to support family  Farms become Mechanized (rich owners can afford it)

A Revolution in Agriculture Where do the poor farmers go?  Poor farmers forced to cities to look for work  Enclosures = more food with less work. So large cities can now be fed

New Breeds How can farmers earn more $? What new breeds were introduced? What was better about the new breeds? What was the problem with the new breeds for the small farmer?  Better farm animals = more $  New breeds of cows and sheep introduced  New Breeds = more meat, thicker wool  Hardier (no disease)  Now raise for meat, previously only for milk and wool  New breeds are expensive and rare  Hurts average farmer – can’t afford new breeds, can’t compete without them  Go out of business to rich landowners

New Crops and Technologies Why do rich landowners buy new technology? Who are 2 of the first innovators? What did Jethro Tull discover?  Want to get richer, so rich landowners invest in farm technology  Goal produce more at less cost with same land  2 inventors: Jethro Tull and Lord Townshend  Jethro Tull: found when soil is cultivated and given fertilizer crops grow better  Invents seed drill

New Crops and Technologies What does the seed drill do? Why is the Seed drill better?  Is faster than broadcasting, less eaten by birds  weeding easier in straight rows  Easier crop maintenance  can farm with fewer people  Townshend was politician and rich landowner

New Crops and Technologies Who was Townshend? What did Townshend discover? Why was this rotation better? Why did this 4 crop rotation work? What were other benefits of the 4 crop rotation?  Townshend was politician and rich landowner  Grow 4 crops, turnips, barley, grasses, and wheat in rotation  4 times the production  Plants release nitrogen (nutrience) into soil – no longer need fallow field  Turnips and clover also could be used as cheap fodder  Fodder is animal feed  allowed for large herds of animals

New Crops and Technologies What is the overall impact of these 2 discoveries?  Overall result is crop production increased  More food for much less land and work  Cities fill up and can still be fed

Summary Write 1 paragraph explaining how agriculture, and the lives of the farmers, has changed. ( How did changes in Agriculture lead to the growth of cities and factories? How did the revolution in agriculture start the industrial revolution?0