Lecture 26: Eating in the Early Industrial Revolution
Smith also wondered what would happen if all the ways governments
control the economy—by import duties, monopolies, fi xing prices
and wages, and all the things mercantilist theorists said should be
done—were taken away. With a total laissez-faire economy, he
predicted that everyone would get wealthier and that the wealth of
the nation as a whole would be greater because businesses would be
freely competing, and only the best would survive. Why Smith’s predictions could even be conceivable has to do with
changes in the organization of agriculture fi rst. The techniques
were actually not entirely new, but the British applied them on a
massive scale—so great that it actually changes the shape of their
society entirely. The new capitalist farmer did a few important things. New three-
fi eld crop rotation systems were introduced, which meant that land
never had to stay fallow. New crops were put in one cycle—usually
clover or alfalfa, which could be eaten by cattle—if the farmer had
a large herd. There was also a massive effort made at selective breeding.
Improving plant varieties causes them to yield more grains per
plant, and this is partly possible with more manure from bigger
herds as well as improved cattle breeding. They don’t have genetics
yet, but choosing animals and plants with certain characteristics to
breed over several generations makes them little food factories. There are also the fi rst agricultural machines. The most famous of
them is Jethro Tull’s seed drill, which plants neat, even rows rather
than broadcast seeds. These inventions result in much more food
at cheaper prices. Your average small farmer has disappeared in
favor of large capital-intensive farms. As a result, Britain is the fi rst
place to completely eradicate subsistence crises, famines, and even
minor setbacks in food production—leading to a major population
explosion that doesn’t begin to halt until the late 20th century.