The precursor to the industrial revolution was the
agricultural revolution and its major elements were the
enclosure movement, new crops, and scientific agriculture.
Jethro Tull
Charles “Turnip” Townshend
Robert Bakewell
Arthur Young
crop rotation
open-field
enclosure movement
 The Agricultural Revolution is the
process of commercializing farming.
 It first began in 16th and 17th centuries
in the Low Countries and spread across
the channel to England by the 18th
century
 New crops (potatoes, tomatoes,
turnips, clover, sunflowers) enriched
the European diet and also provided
ways to restore nitrates to the soil
 Better tools and innovations: iron plow,
seeding by drilling, crop rotation,
 Use of such restorative crops and crop
rotation eliminated the need for leaving
land fallow.
 About 1/3 more land was under cultivation
as a result of ending the practice of
leaving land fallow
 Selective breeding of animals and crops
reflected scientific and empirical
approaches.
 Goal was to enclose the common fields that
traditionally were open to tenant farmers and
laborers to graze their animals, gather firewood,
and so on.
 It began in the 17th century and was nearly
complete a century later
 Enclosure allowed landowners to experiment with
new crops and new production techniques
 The point was to produce crops for market rather
than use
 It resulted in an increase in the number of landless
peasants and poor agricultural workers