Farming Change Over Time

Year by year the farmers who lived on soil, whose returns were diminished by unrotated crops were offered the virgin soil of the frontier at nominal prices. Their growing families demanded more lands, and these were dear. The competition of the unexhausted, cheap, and easily tilled prairie lands compelled the farmer either to go west and continue the exhaustion of the soil on a new frontier, or to adopt intensive culture.

According to the Great Plain Drought Area Committee Report (Doc. D), in 1879, 10 million acres of crop were harvested. 20 years later, in 1899, 50 million acres of crops were harvested, 5 times more crops than in 1879. In 1929, that number more than doubled to a 105 million acres of crops that were harvested. How did happen? Farming technology advanced rapidly from 1879 to 1929. In “The Worst Hard Time” by Timothy Egan (Doc. C), Egan wrote, “A tractor did the work of ten horses. With his new combine, Folkers could cut and thresh the grain in one swoop, using just a fraction of the labor.” The new farming technology made farming faster and it required less labor. Farmers had this new technology and used it to plow more land. Millions of acres were being plowed and farmed on and with the dry soil and no grass to keep it on the ground the dust became airborne and started grouping together and creating terrible storms.

The agricultural revolution was the shift from typical hunter-gatherer societies, to more sedentary life (farming and herding). Life for these

The supply of food had to be able to feed more people and ensure stability. The traditional method would often see poor harvest or shortages of land, the new methods the Agricultural Revolution provided ensured the stability that was needed in Europe. Dikes and drain land was developed so farmers and landlords could farm larger areas. They also experimented with new crops that would restore the soil and supply more animal food. The iron plow was another great agricultural innovation because it allowed land to be cultivated longer without having to be left unplanted. Crop rotation and a new method of animal breeding also contributed to the success of the Agricultural Revolution. However, these new methods caused peasant revolts because it challenged the traditional peasant ways of production. The increased production of food with the new and efficient production methods allowed death rates to fall and children to grow because people were more nouritoused. The increase in food production allowed Europeans to grow without the fear of

Between 1760 and 1880 there was a huge growth in the size of cities and a population shift as people started to move into the more industrialised areas in search of work. This was because of the transformation of agriculture. Landowners had now decided to ‘enclose’ their lands so as they realised they could make a profit from selling food as the population of Britain was increasing. Enclosure improved the ways of farming

Economically, the Agricultural Revolution majorly impacted the way of life in the Europe, through new technological farming advancements and improved land efficiency, ultimately leading to a greater abundance of food. Compared to feudal society when people depended on small individual crop yields, many fields were combined in order to produce much larger harvests, increasing the bounty of food overall. Improved land efficiency came with new innovative ideas, including crop rotation. Allowing nutrients such as nitrogen to return to the soil, crop rotation along with fodder crops rotated the fields of crops every few years, leading to more successful yields of crops. Additional advancements in farming technology, such as the seed drill, helped

Technology greatly transformed American agriculture from just plain farming to commercial farming. The mechanization of farming made farming easier and more profitable. As shown in Document D technology was helping farmers, making farming more easier and they were able to do many jobs quicker. But, Farmers couldn’t afford to send crops to other places At the beginning of the 1840s the railroad began to transform American agriculture, by the 1860’s all states east of the Mississippi had rail service. As shown in Document B there were multiple railroads all around the country. The farmers were ecstatic about this new technology because they could send their crops to other areas, when before they didn’t have the money to be able to do so. Other new technologies were arriving such as the mechanical reaper and the steel plow.

As over-population became an issue many people started to move away from mass populated cities and started to head to the open lands in the western frontier. As more people started to move west, they became reliant on farming and domesticating livestock to support their developing economy. This form of work

Document 6 shows that enclosures required capital to be placed into agriculture and that through that capital, an abundance of food was made possible. Finally, from this abundance of food, more hands were required for work. The open-field system discouraged improvement, whereas enclosures did, and as a result, constant improvement required more people to

In Great Britain, the discovery of new land system such as the Four Field Systems leads to an Agricultural Revolution. Once people figured out how to make their land last longer an enclosure movement occurred. Shifting land ownership from everyone being able to have access to land to only certain people having ownership of land. The events that occurred in each of these countries impacted their

In the time period between 1865 and 1900 technology,government policy,and economic conditions really changed American agriculture. The technology made farming more efficient,and more profitable. Government policies both helped and hindered farmers with helping them transport their products,but they also “stole” from the farmers to help make the government more money. The economic conditions helped farmers with selling more products,and helping cities grow;along with starving families almost to death. All of these coming together really changed American agriculture.

During the time period of 1865-1900 American agriculture changed greatly. Several components such as technology, government policy, and economic conditions caused agriculture to transform in the way it did. The main advancements in technology were new farming machinery and the growth in the railroad, both benefited the farmers grow and move crops. The government policies seemed to never favor the farmers, they passed laws making it harder for farmers to make a living. The economic conditions for farmers became rough due to the price of crops dropping from overproduction.

Back then the farmers used their food to make money but because today we have so many ways to make much more money like jobs. Another quote from an different article, shows that farmers are much different from back then because they have many more

The outcome of this farming change was higher access of food. The enclosure Movement also forced people into Industrial Revolution for example; farmers who worked in the farming industry where replaced by farming machines and where left homeless forced to find new jobs in the industrial revolution. Big business was also a change that created Mass Production. Mass Production shifted people from production at home, to production in large factories in cities. Mass production also allowed for lower prices on the good produced.

Around when the Industrial Revolution began, agriculture began to take a turn in it’s way of harvesting crops. New techniques of growing and tending crops spread across Europe in the 1700s. “The improved yield of the agricultural sector can be attributed to the enclosure movement and to improved techniques and practices developed during this