Industrialization of Agriculture and its economic effects

Transcription

1 Industrialization of Agriculture and its economic effects Author : Terran Gilbreath Economic Benefits of Agriculture When the newfound inventions and ideas from the industrial revolution were applied to the agricultural industries of The United States and Great Britain, it not only created ways for these countries to build their own internal economies, but also opportunities for them to share their domestic products internationally. This established international trade markets that allowed for external economic growth and relationships created by increase in agricultural output. With the increase in agricultural commodities that each country could make for themselves, and the products that could be obtained through trade, the U.S. and Britain were able to build their economies at an exponential rate that had before been unimaginable. The attributes that allowed for the growth in economy and trade markets consisted of the application of the steam engine to agricultural techniques, the use of implements pulled by steam tractors, and the enhancement of agricultural practices by utilizing organic fertilizers and the use of crop rotation. With these innovations, higher yields and more efficient harvesting and transport methods positively influenced the ability of Great Britain and The United States to trade a grow economically in the late 1800's to mid 1900's. By 1775, James Watt had invented a steam engine with a separate condenser in order to create a more efficient output of power. The design with the separate condenser allowed the condenser itself to be cool while the cylinder was still hot. However, technology did not go from no method of power straight to steam powered vehicles. 1/6

2 The need for a better way to produce and trade agricultural goods is what made the push to engineer new method of power. The designs of both steam engines are shown to the right, they are operated on the same principles with very diverse design methods. With this creation, farmers could replace the use of animals or large number of workers with a steam driven machine that only required one or two people to be operated. Without a workforce to pay, agriculturalists could drastically increase their profit margin. This made it possible for the farmers to create an agricultural product for the general population and also have a way for themselves to make a living. Not only was the steam engine applied to agriculture, but also, it was readily used in the shipping industry. The steam engine allowed for things manufactured from agricultural products to be shipped across longer distances at faster rates. This meant that foods with expiration dates could now be traded between the United States and Britain because it took less time to make the distance. Also, markets rapidly expanded due to the larger number of manufactured goods being produced at faster rates. L. B. Schmidt stated that "the world had never before been able to accomplish so much in the way of production with a given amount of labor in a given time" [1]. the strides that had been made by the industrialization had in a sense shocked the world. This was the turning point that allowed two of the major world colonial leaders to link their economies and become industrial forerunners. With the practice of steam powered agricultural machines also came the use of implements that could be attached and ran by them. The use of implements had been limited to the work capacity of the animals they were attached to or the humans using them. O'Brien compares the use of animals and mechanized forms of labor, he said "animals provided farmers with extra power and with a very high proportion of organic fertilizer, which was often the main determinant of variations in yields from year to year and from region to region"[2]. However, he merely highli ghted the strong points of using animal labor, he did not cover the problems that are avoided by using mechanized methods to complete work. For example, an animal could only pull a small plow for a limited amount of time. With steam powered labor, implements could be pulled by tractors which meant that they could be larger and used for a longer amount of time. The steam tractor in the picture on the left is pulling a set of plows followed by discs. This meant that these two 2/6

3 processes could be combined to create a more efficient use of time. The soil could be turned over by the plows and cut by the discs all in one pass. This also meant that with new mechanized ways of doing things, less time was spent on the preparation, maintenance, and harvesting of crops. Agriculturalists could prep and entire field by plowing it in increasingly faster amounts of time. Mechanical seeders were being used to plant the seeds in the plowed fields, and steam driven harvesters could complete the harvest process without any worry of food spoiling in the field. The enhancement of agricultural practices caused the yields of crops that could be produced to increase on an exponential rate. Not only were the numbers increasing but also the quality of crop that was being produced was higher as well. Organic fertilizers began to come into use around the time of the industrial revolution. Plants were able to receive the essential nutrients they needed to grow at a faster rate. Organic fertilizers were used to create soil that was needed for more efficient crop growth and development. P. K. O'Brien spoke to this idea in his journal entry, he said "soil's chemical composition can be improved by mixing soils together and through the application of organic fertilizers"[2]. Around the time that scientists had discovered that the application of fertilizers was beneficial to crop growth, there was a dramatic increase in the variety of products that could be used. On the right, an advertisement is shown for natural bone fertilizer. Typically this type of product was used to add phosphorus in the form of phosphate to the soil. The uses of organic fertilizers were endless, any nutrient that a specific crop needed could now be abundantly spread onto soil that was lacking it. These nutrients were obtained through a few very diverse methods. For instance, animal manure 3/6

4 is very rich in organic matter. This meant that a farmer could also use the waste that his animals produced to add highly concentrated nutrients to his soil. Also, the stalks of crops from the previous year could be composted or simply just ploughed into the soil to decompose. This process also left a form of highly concentrated organic matter in the soil that provided essential nutrients to the coming year's crop. Along with the adoption of organic fertilizers also came a guide of how it should be applied. In his discussion of the agricultural revolution Eric Kerridge discuses soil types and their need for different types of fertilizer. From his studies he deducted that "for general purposes, dung from sheep and corned horses; for dry grassland, pigeons and poultry; and for dry soils, from pigs" [3]. This meant that the amount food that the U.S. and Britain could produce could keep up with the newly found ways of transporting it. As the demands for these foods and products went up, there were less problems keeping up with them. Another added benefit to agricultural production that came around the time of the industrial revolution was the use of crop rotation. Scientist were able to prove that crops used and left behind different nutrients in the soil. For instance, wheat uses a lot of nitrogen and garbanzo beans leave nitrogen in the soil. The idea was to grow these crops in different fields and in the following growing season, switch the two. In their analytical evaluation of pre-modern farming techniques, Chambers and Mingay highlighted crop rotation as an important catalyst in the development of the horticultural industry. They stated that "the fundamental improvement in eighteenth-century farming consisted in the spread of more flexible rotations of crops"[4]. This allowed for a complementary relationship between the two crops, that is, the crops use what the other left behind in the soil and do not completely dry all the nutrients out of a single field. With the use of these two ideas in unison, crops were able to get 4/6

5 some essential nutrients from the soil and the rest from the supplementary use of organic fertilizers. Increasing the yield of any crop meant that there was more to use for the country producing it and also more to be traded to the country that wanted. The industrial revolution worked well in the development of not only the economies of Great Britain and the United States, but also by linking the two and creating a market for the products that one could produce and the other couldn't. By creating more efficient mechanized ways of production and transportation, the industrial revolution brought agriculture to a totally new level. The use of the ideas and inventions that came from the industrial revolution allowed for the increased output of organic food and agricultural products that would soon be counterparts to textiles and manufactured goods. These major changes came from the use of the steam engine in transportation methods as well as agricultural equipment such as tractors. The use of implements drawn by the tractors also led to a more efficient use of time and labor on the average farm. Combined with these two applications, and the widespread use of crop rotation and organic fertilizers, American and British agriculture became more organized and efficient than ever before. Footnotes: [1] Schmidt, L.B., "THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION IN THE UNITED STATES ". Science (New York, N.Y.), , Vol.72(1876), pp (page 586) [2] O'Brien, P.K., "Agriculture and the Industrial Revolution". The Economic History Review, 1977, Vol.30(1), pp (pages ) [3] Kerridge, Eric, The agricultural revolution. London, Allen & Unwin, 1967 (page 240) [4] Chambers, Jonathon D., and G.E. Mingay, The agricultural revolution, London: Batsford 1966 (page 54) Illustrations: Steam engine picturehttp:// 5/6

6 Steam Tractor picturehttp:// Fertilizer picturehttp://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgid=1-2-6c4 Crop Rotation picturehttp://microfarmgardens.com/blog/2015/5/19/simple-crop-rotation-for-healthier-plants.html Original research question1.) What applications of the Industrial Revolution to the field of Agricultural as well as discoveries about agricultural practices led to the economic incline and better opportunities to trade manufactured goods, food, and other textiles between the countries of The United States and Great Britain? 6/6 Powered by TCPDF (