Agricultural Revolution In The Industrial Revolution

Agriculture was the prevailing economic activity in England and Europe through the early modern era. The agricultural revolution laid a fundamental base for the industrial revolution. If agricultural productivity in England grew between the middle ages and the nineteenth century, then most of it occurred before the mid-eighteenth century. It all started with the “Bing-Bang”, the Black Death of 1348. Followed by new crops and techniques, increases in output and land improvement but also urban growth, agriculture became much more productive. Institutions such as enclosures and large farms are said to have increased productivity by encouraging farmers to adopt those new crops and techniques. However, there is little direct evidence for the actual impact of changes in land tenure on agricultural productivity. Indeed, the consequences of the enclosure movement on agricultural productivity has been a deeply debated topic in English economic history.

Indeed, the Black Death of 1348 was one of the greatest pandemics in human history. It killed 75 to 200 million people in mid-14th century. Population in England and the Low Countries recovered slowly from the plague. Smaller population needed less grain to survive, and wages had increased. Indeed, according to the Domar thesis, the plague increased the land-to labour ratio because after the plague reduced population but the acres of land remained the same. Therefore, real wages increased since there was now competition between landowners for labour. Higher real wages could buy more non-necessities. Thus, the population consumed more meat and dairy products. To answer that demand, farmers shifted their land from grain production to animal grazing. Livestock numbers had an impact on yields. Indeed increasing the animal density per acre of one unit increases the yield of some crops by about 5 bushels per