Transforming Agriculture: The 18th Century Revolution

The Agricultural Revolution gradually transforms from the old traditional agricultural system to a more productive system. The Dutch Republic and above all England led the way to the growth and improvement in agriculture in the early 18th century that spread throughout Europe. These gradual improvements saw important developments through new farming techniques and equipment, and experimentation with new crops and crop rotation. Along with new farming techniques and new patterns of crop rotation, also came the improvement of livestock breeding. The improvements paved the way for better crop yields, a greater diversity of vegetables, the ability to support more livestock and led to a surplus of food that impacted society as the population became better nourished and healthier. From the increase in agricultural productivity during the Agricultural Revolution also contributed to the increase in population. In addition to the Agricultural

It set the tone for private land ownership. The Enclosure movement had wealthy landowners forcing small peasant farmers to become landless rural wage earners (p. 546). Although, Agricultural Revolution bought a significant scientific innovation change in new ways of agricultural methods, such as crop rotations that allowed for better crop yields and a great diversity of vegetables, furthermore, it increased their livestock as well. However, with more recent research has shown that regions that maintained open-field farming were still able to adopt crop rotation and other innovations, which indicates that the enclosures were not a prerequisite for increased production (p. 545), and perhaps a conspiracy from the wealthy farmers to become independent shareholders at the expense of the poor peasant