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Climate change impacts on agriculture
Climate change impacts on agriculture
Climate change impacts on agriculture
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As the majority of Europeans living in 17th and 18th century Europe were rural, many worked in agriculture- but with that they suffered from natural forces, but were able to to improve the efficiency of crop production with new farming techniques over the span of the Agricultural Revolution. These new changes in the life of a rural worker are contrasted with the natural forces that affected most of the Europeans of the time: weather and the disease. Europe’s farming population depended on the weather to produce crops, but the low temperatures of Europe interfered with agricultural yield. Without a sustainable yield ratio, people were not getting enough food, causing them to be more susceptible to diseases.
As a whole, weather had a negative
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impact on the lives of Europeans in the 17th and 18th century.
Unfortunately, European farming was often hindered because of the weather, causing a decline in agricultural yield. By each change of the season, different weather patterns were often detrimental to the agriculture in each area of Europe. In England, temperatures rose and dropped roughly six degrees between summer and spring within 1699 to 1789. In comparison to the grape harvests in the Alps during the same time frame, the dates of grape harvest correspond to the spring and summer temperatures in England. The years when the temperatures in England were low, there were also glacial maximums in the Alps. Likewise in France, it is shown that prices for wheat fluctuated between cooler and warmer years. Wheat prices rose and decreased with the difference in temperature, with changes shown even within six degrees (Doc 5). Times in colder weather caused insufficient crop yields in agriculture, causing the prices of food were more expensive, which in turn affected the majority of lives of the people in Europe. A Dutch …show more content…
peasant family does not even have a proper table for their evening meal, and not only that- but their meal of gruel, or cereal, is not adequate for their family of four (Doc 3). An insufficient crop yield also had an effect on the mortality rate of Europeans. In the 17th and 18th century, the French city of Morannes showed a significant increase in the deaths of the young French people, particularly in the 1690’s (Doc 12); around the same time when Europe was experiencing one of the lowest temperatures in 1699-1700 (Doc 5). Weather caused a considerable amount of impact on Europeans- which in numerous cases resulted in scarce crop yield, but also had led to high prices of food and an increased mortality rate. Around this time, many epidemics started to spread in Europe.
There were many causes for these diseases. The living conditions that the majority were living in threatened their health. It was typical for many people to share their house with livestock- for example, an Italian family shares their kitchen with a chicken coop (Doc 7). Little did they know that insects infested animals, thus causing disease to spread easily. Drinking unclean water and eating unripened fruits and vegetables affected the health of the rural population, causing epidemics of diseases. Agricultural failure also led to the widespread of diseases. Because people were not getting a sufficient amount of food, they lacked nutrients, causing the population to be less resistant to disease. Diseases resulted in many deaths. For example, in southern France, La Valette’s population lost 64.3 percent of its people, which was more than half of the population (Doc 8). Subsequently, the epidemics wound up causing a serious damage to the rural
population. Furthermore, with the Agricultural Revolution gaining momentum, new technological progress that was being implemented into farming improved the efficiency of cultivation of crops was beginning to surface. New methods such as enclosure, crop rotation, and simply gradually eliminating the use of fallow in farming led to improvements. Going into the eighteenth century, women were more often given opportunities to work in the rural industry, meaning they could marry at an earlier age- meaning more babies. With disappearances of plague, the mortality rate in Europe steadily decreased. (Chapter 18: The Expansion of Europe, Figure 18.2). With these new changes, it helped the rural population of Europe breakaway from the natural forces that had caused conflicts in their lives. Ultimately, the rural majority of Europe were gradually able to make through the natural forces of weather and disease through the Agricultural Revolution. Weather interfered with Europe’s agriculture, causing an insufficient crop yield, which led to a rise in food prices and mortality rate. But European agriculturalists adopted new methods like crop rotation, which allowed them to grow crops one year and then let the soil recover the other year. Epidemics were spread in Europe, which consequently caused a high death rate. In retrospect, they were able to break out from the drawbacks of these forces with newer and improved techniques coming from the Agricultural Revolution, and hense the livelihood of the people improved along with it.
From 1865 to 1900, production of crops increased, and prices dropped. (Document A) These crops were shipped east, where they were eaten and exported to other countries. This was due to technology, but government policy caused economic conditions in the west barely improved as a result. In fact, despite the success many farmers experienced, many in the west still struggled to put food on the table.
At the same time, the local agricultural economy was experiencing a deep economic depression due to the severe droughs that had occured throughout the past decade. The loss of crops cut out the average farmers'/planters' main food source as well a...
At this time however, cold weather and rains wiped out many crops creating a shortage of food for humans. Rats also went through this shortage in food. This made them “crowd in cities, providing an optimal environment for disease”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). Before the black death spread through Europe, sanitation wasn’t very good. Living conditions were bad so when the black death came to Europe, it spread more rapidly because people were not clean and healthy. Another reason the plague spread so fast was because the dead “bodies were piled up inside and outside city walls where they lay until mass graves could be dug”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). This made the air very polluted and contributed the spread of the epidemic. In total, the black death killed about thirty million people. This was about one-third the population of Europe. Some towns were completely wiped out. Because of this, medieval people thought everyone would eventually die, although we now know that some populations did survive. Also, because people were not being saved by the church, their beliefs were questioned. Less people dedicated their lives to the church because of this. Both the poor and the rich died but more than one-half the people dead were poor. This was also a result of poor sanitation and living conditions. The Black Death initiated in China in the early 1340’s
3. Italy was also the thriving, prosperous center of trade and culture, and was hit pretty hard, losing 65,000 citizens due to many people coming in and out of the city for trade. Each city's connections in trade caused the disease to quickly, yet unintentionally spread. The plague caused a labor shortage, as many people died. So, people started demanding higher wages (which was strongly opposed by the guilds and nobles).
The outburst spread of diseases in a population causes people to panic and become hopeless. The main reason diseases spread is due to unsanitary living styles. Also when a disease first begins, it is really hard to find a cure right away. A very deadly, infectious disease known as Typhus spread during the Holocaust. Typhus is caused by rickettsia and is spread by lice and flees.
The population of Massachusetts and other larger states such as New York or Virginia had a much higher population due to the mass migration of people coming over from Europe. Massachusetts with its large population led to more problems than other places. A major problem that occurred was illnesses and diseases. These sicknesses were easily spread throughout the large settlements because of the large number of people living so close in one particular area. People spread these illnesses and diseases when they would go to the store, the post office, church, or any other location. Where ever they would go, they would spread their illnesses to a large amount of people, and those people would spread it to others, and so on because of the numerous amounts of contact between people. Eventually, the entire population would get this illness. In comparison to smaller areas, like the outskirts of towns and rural areas, that would have less human interactions which would help prevent the il...
(SIP-A) The plague had many ways in spreading its disease making more and more people get sick very rapidly (STEWE-1) .The plague killed roughly half of the population of Europe, In crowded areas people could receive the Plague from fleas that had bitten wild black rats. Once transferred from flea to human it became fatal in days. (S3 27). (STEWE-2) In 1347 many sailors that were dying from the plague were on Italian merchant ships from the Black Sea, which is on the trade route between Europe and China. Within days the sailors on the ship had spread the plague from the port cities to the surrounding countryside, within a year the disease spread as far as England. (S14). (SIP-B) Because of the rapidly spreading disease the mortality rate and decrease of population was very high and greatly affected those who survived. (STEWE-1) Over half of the population had died and extremely quickly, there were so many bodies that there was no more room to bury them, the brutal depopulation is almost unimaginable for those who lived through such a painful time. (S1
The 1920’s were the singularly most influential years of farming in our country. The loss of farms following the war, and new agricultural practices resulted in the dawn of modern agriculture in our country. The shift from small family to big corporation during this time is now the basis for how our society deals with food today. Traditional farming in the 1920’s underwent a series of massive transitions following WWI as the number of farms decreased and the size of farms increased.
The filth of the cities promoted the spread of disease faster than doctors could discover a cure. This encouraged large outbreaks of many deadly diseases. And it is said that throughout this period there were people who went about the cities and towns with wagons calling "Bring out your dead!" in a fashion similar to that of the Medieval era during the bubonic plague (Which, by the way, was not yet a dead disease).
Many of the French people were left without homes, food or livestock, they were about to face a harsh winter and were unsure if they had enough seeds to plant crops the following year. The climatic changes that occurred over Europe had drastic consequences for agriculture, resulting in malnutrition which pre-disposed the populace to disease. Inflation increased and famine soon spread across Europe, resulting in many deaths. Around 1339, Europe’s population began to increase, this growth began to surpass the capacity of the land to feed its populace. Therefore, a severe economic crisis began to emerge....
If the empires had not set up the tax system on food or increased populations to the need of expansions than maybe the black plague wouldn’t have thrived. Because of their actions during the time of the black plaque many places still held taxes over farmers that ended up not being able to feed their families, leading them to become malnutrition and weak and extremely susceptible to disease. Due to the large numbers of people on top of each other in crowded cities/towns disease spread like rapid fire from germs being passed
This was also the main reason the public health of England was in such a poor condition. For example, England’s streets and towns were a breeding ground for disease and germs.
...on” (Rosen). So many people suffered from this disease and even those that were not infected, it caused pain and tragic despair. “In Naples, they lost 63,000 people in the matters of two months” (Rosen)! People back then did not know how to handle the disease so they tried to leave, but that made it spread quicker than normal. Throughout Europe at least half the population died.
The second shift occurred on a larger scale by using larger pieces of land to produce crops rather than rely on smaller pieces of land, which was the more traditional way to farm (Woloch 141). Lastly, the English began to introduce new crops that helped raise livestock, which resulted in an increase in crop production (Woloch 141). By integrating livestock with each other, farmers would access more usable manure which helped them maintain a successful and innovative farm. “In short, the land would always be growing something of value,” according to Woloch (142). These innovations began in England, but eventually had an impact on the rest of Europe (141-142)
Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fibre productivity rose due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favoured maximizing production. These changes allowed fewer farmers with reduced labour demands to produce the majority of the food and fibre.