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Land Conversion, Drainage, and Reclamation Programs
Land reclamation, while in vogue throughout Europe during the 18th Century, was nothing new to the Dutch. Their lands had always been at sea level, so efforts to control the sea through levies and windmills allowed for the creation of new, fertile farmland. The Dutch techniques would be recreated to great success in England, and provided is the date of construction of a famous Dutch Polder at Beemster demonstrating the refinement of this technique. -
The Royal Society of London advocates the potato
The Royal Society, having noted the amazing sturdiness of the potato, recommended it on the basis that its subterranean nature helped it thrive even when other wheat crops failed. It is this general reliability that eventually made it a staple throughout Europe following its discovery in South America. Evidence of dependency on the potato was seen during the devastating Potato Famine in Ireland when a combination of stricken harvest and apathy from Parliament saw the starvation of many Irish. -
Norfolk Four Course Crop Rotation
This refers to the method of crop rotation first used in Norfolk, England, and subsequently popularized throughout Europe. This was a four-year rotation of wheat, turnips, barley, and clover in that order. It would go on to spread throughout continental Europe in the 18th Century. -
Jethro Tull and the Seed Drill
Jethro Tull's addition to the advancement of agriculture in the 18th Century was his horse-drawn seed drill. This provided a much more efficient, less manual, and more precise way of sowing seeds. In inventing and popularizing the drill, Tull was able to prove his theories that seeds needed to be spaced apart appropriately and at even depth. This was a major improvement over past techniques and subsequently helped vastly improve agriculture. -
Development of a National Market
The National Market, a phenomenon that sprung from efforts to delocalize the economy and increase exportation, was aided by the efforts of several administrations in the 18th Century in which critical infrastructure like roads and canals were built favorable economic conditions were sought. The growing interconnectedness was also beneficial in that decreased the threat of poor harvest to a particular area as one could rely on his neighboring county. -
Charles “Turnip” Townshend
At the end of his term as Secretary of State, Townshend began to seriously promote the Norfolk system and particularly its use of turnips. This earned him his nickname, "Turnip" and is particularly notable because his promotion of these methods was key to the larger revolution. He is therefore regarded as one of the foremost leaders of the agricultural revolution. -
Dutch and Rotherham swing (wheel-less) plough
The Dutch innovation in plowing came with the use of the Rotherham plow. As the name implies, this device doesn't have wheels and this clearly allows the user to operate it with greater ease since it is only necessary to press down upon its arms. This plow, along with Tull's drill and crop rotation methods made up the core of the agricultural revolution and its design is so efficient and simple that it still sees use in parts of the world where mechanization hasn't taken place. -
Arthur Young
Arthur Young was a renowned English agricultural expert who, in the late 18th Century contributed to the popular advancement of agriculture through the publication of over 40 volumes of the Annals of Agriculture. In 1770, Young published his A Course on Experimental Agriculture, his first such work, and it established him as an innovator in the field (literally). Young's work was part of a broader interest in advancing agriculture during the period that helped form the Second Agricultural Rev. -
Enclosure Act
The Enclosure Acts came in many iterations from the English Parliament, with one of the more notable versions being approved in 1773. As its name implies, this act allowed landowners to enclose their plots and end access to commoners. This was a practice that had begun at the beginning of the 17th Century and was ongoing through the 18th. -
Robert Bakewell, Thomas Coke, and the development of Selective Breeding
In the 18th Century, Bakewell and Coke were notable for their development of an animal husbandry process known as selective breeding. This entails allowing specific animals with specific desirable traits to reproduce so that their traits be passed on. This had the desired effect of also reducing genetic diversity, and allowing Coke to select the first cows intended primarily for beef production. It was in 1783 that Bakewell created his Dishley Society to advance these findings.