AGRICULTURAL & INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS
THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION.
This refers to a period in the history of Britain from 1750 – 1850 when the country’s
population grew quickly. More people were born and the death rate fell. This created
a number of problems.
 More food was needed to feed all the extra people.
 The old methods of farming, which had been unchanged for centuries, were no
longer good enough to supply the food that was needed.
 New and better methods were urgently needed.
The great landowners and farmers of 18-century Britain approached these problems
from a number of angles.
 Advances in food production.
 Advances in animal breeding methods.
 Advances in farm machinery.
Advances in Food Production;
For almost ten centuries the Open-Field System had been used to produce food in
Britain. This gave a farmer one-acre strips of land in three large, open fields. Each
year two of the fields were cultivated while the third was allowed to rest.
There were a few disadvantages with this system-
 It was time wasteful as the farmer spent much time travelling from strip to
strip.
 It was land wasteful as there was always land not in use.
 It could not meet the increased demand for food that arose as the population
grew.