Agricultural Revolution

agricultural revolution, gradual transformation of the traditional agricultural system that began in Britain in the 18th century. Aspects of this complex transformation, which was not completed until the 19th century, included the reallocation of land ownership to make farms more compact and an increased investment in technical improvements, such as new machinery, better drainage, scientific methods of breeding, and experimentation with new crops and systems of crop rotation.

Among those new crop-rotation methods was the Norfolk four-course system, established in Norfolk county, England, which emphasized fodder crops and the absence of the theretofore conventionally employed fallow year. Wheat was grown in the first year and turnips in the second, followed by barley, with clover and ryegrass undersown in the third. The clover and ryegrass were cut for feed or grazed in the fourth year. In the winter, cattle and sheep were fed the turnips. The development of Shorthorn beef cattle through selective breeding of local cattle of the Teeswater district, Durham county, typified the advances brought about by scientific breeding.

The historiography of the period that emphasized the contributions of “great men” has lost much of its influence, but the names Jethro Tull and Arthur Young are still frequently invoked by those seeking to understand the significance of the agricultural revolution, which was an essential prelude to the Industrial Revolution.