British Agricultural

Revolution

The British Agricultural Revolution, or

Second Agricultural Revolution, was an
unprecedented increase in agricultural
production in Britain arising from
increases in labour and land productivity
between the mid-17th and late 19th
centuries. Agricultural output grew faster
than the population over the hundred-year
period ending in 1770, and thereafter
productivity remained among the highest
in the world. This increase in the food
supply contributed to the rapid growth of
population in England and Wales, from
5.5 million in 1700 to over 9 million by
1801, though domestic production gave
way increasingly to food imports in the
nineteenth century as the population more
than tripled to over 35 million.[1] Using
1700 as a base year (=100), agricultural
output per agricultural worker in Britain
steadily increased from about 50 in 1500,
to around 65 in 1550, to 90 in 1600, to over
100 by 1650, to over 150 by 1750, rapidly
increasing to over 250 by 1850.[2] The rise
in productivity accelerated the decline of
the agricultural share of the labour force,
adding to the urban workforce on which
industrialization depended: the Agricultural
Revolution has therefore been cited as a
cause of the Industrial Revolution.

However, historians continue to dispute

when exactly such a "revolution" took
place and of what it consisted. Rather than
a single event, G. E. Mingay states that
there were a "profusion of agricultural
revolutions, one for two centuries before
1650, another emphasising the century
after 1650, a third for the period 1750–
1780, and a fourth for the middle decades
of the nineteenth century".[3] This has led
more recent historians to argue that any
general statements about "the Agricultural
Revolution" are difficult to sustain.[4][5]

One important change in farming methods

was the move in crop rotation to turnips
and clover in place of fallow. Turnips can
be grown in winter and are deep-rooted,
allowing them to gather minerals
unavailable to shallow-rooted crops.
Clover fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere
into a form of fertiliser. This permitted the
intensive arable cultivation of light soils on
enclosed farms and provided fodder to
support increased livestock numbers
whose manure added further to soil
fertility.

Term
Called “British,” the term implies that the
Revolution began in Britain. The term does
not imply that the Revolution existed solely
in Britain. Other countries in
Europe,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] East
Asia[17] and North America[18][19][20]
followed suit in the next two centuries. The
Second Agricultural Revolution was much
like the First in that it occurred in many
regions across the world in a short span of
time.
In addition, the British origins of the
Revolution is the view shared by the British
historians. The Dutch historians disagree.
In the Netherlands in 1500 – 1650, the
agricultural output per laborer rose by 80%
leading to over 60% decline in manpower
engaged in agriculture by 1650.[21][22] From
1500 to 1750, the Dutch were faster than
Britain in reducing the agricultural sector
of population.[23] The Netherlands were
called "School Room," or "Home" of the
modern agricultural revolution.[24] Notably,
one of the innovations in the British
Revolution was the “Dutch” light plow
(chapter 2.2 below). English landowners
and their agents who returned from exile in
the Netherlands in the 17th century,
introduced Dutch methods and
techniques.[25][26]

The term "revolution" refers only to

increase in yields per land and labour.
There was not anything revolutionary in
agricultural technology or methods, only
usual innovations.[27][28] Power tillers
appeared on fields in the 20th century,
synthetic fertilizers in the 19th, light plow
was used all around the Mediterranean
since antiquity. One hypothesis suggests
climatic amelioration as the trigger of the
Revolution (chapter 2.11 below). This
explanation also associates with the First
Revolution.

Major developments and

innovations
The British Agricultural Revolution was the
result of the complex interaction of social,
economic and farming technological
changes. Major developments and
innovations include:[29]

Norfolk four-course crop rotation:

Fodder crops, particularly turnips and
clover, replaced leaving the land
fallow.[30]
The Dutch improved the Chinese plough
so that it could be pulled with fewer
oxen or horses.
Enclosure: the removal of common
rights to establish exclusive ownership
of land
Development of a national market free
of tariffs, tolls and customs barriers
Transportation infrastructures, such as
improved roads, canals, and later,
railways
Land conversion, land drains and
reclamation
Increase in farm size
Selective breeding
Crop rotation
Crop Yield net of Seed
(bushels/acre)[31]

Peas Growth rate

Year Wheat Rye Barley Oats
beans (%/year)$

1250–1299 8.71 10.71 10.25 7.24 6.03 −0.27

1300–1349 8.24 10.36 9.46 6.60 6.14 −0.032

1350–1399 7.46 9.21 9.74 7.49 5.86 0.61

1400–1449 5.89 10.46 8.44 6.55 5.42 0.08

1450–1499 6.48 13.96 8.56 5.95 4.49 0.48

1550–1599 7.88 9.21 8.40 7.87 7.62 −0.16

1600–1649 10.45 16.28 11.16 10.97 8.62 −0.11

1650–1699 11.36 14.19 12.48 10.82 8.39 0.64

1700–1749 13.79 14.82 15.08 12.27 10.23 0.70

1750–1799 17.26 17.87 21.88 20.90 14.19 0.37

1800–1849 23.16 19.52 25.90 28.37 17.85 0.63

1850–1899 26.69 26.18 23.82 31.36 16.30 —

Notes:

Yields have had the seed used to plant the crop subtracted to give net yields.
Average seed sown is estimated at:

Wheat 2.5 bu/acre;

Rye 2.5 bu/acre;

Barley 3.5–4.30 bu/acre;

Oats 2.5–4.0 bu/acre;

Peas & beans 2.50–3.0 bu/acre.

$ Average annual growth rate of agricultural output is per agricultural worker.

Other authors offer different estimates.