The State of British Agriculture between 1846 and 1868
Bookmark this page

What was the impact of the repeal of the Corn Laws?

• The concern about the damaging impact it might have had may have acted to make farmers look at their methods and management to compensate for possible damage.
• Wheat prices did drop briefly between 1848 and 1852, but not enough to seriously concern even those against repeal, as it was an asset to have food prices drop at a time of social unrest.
• The world prices of wheat rose to British levels in the few years after repeal.
• Other agricultural prices rose, some quite rapidly, which more than compensated the farmer for the slight fall in wheat prices.
• The size of the landed interest in the House of Commons fell slightly, but still about 50% of its members in 1868 were directly involved in the management of farming land.
• Any legislation that may have directly or indirectly helped farmers (e.g. cheap gov loans for improvement, or compensation for the arrival of the railway) had an easy passage in parliament, both in the Commons and the Lords.
• There was gradual decline in the power of the landed interest.
• The protectionists’ case vanished easily, and Disraeli was aware that his backbenchers hadn’t been reduced to poverty when the Conservatives abandoned protection in 1852.
• There was not yet the means of transportation to ship the cheaper American wheat to Britain and the Crimean War was later to hold up Russian supplies as well.

What were the main developments in agriculture during this period?

• A major survey of agriculture by Caird in 1850-51 showed a lot of backward husbandry, and many cases where bad landlords and poor agents had neglected to develop and improve.
• However in some areas neglect decline and effective use spread. It was an age of real capital investment.
• The graduates of the new Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester (founded 1845) came out on to the job market, and ideas from the Rothamstead Agricultural Research Station (founded in 1843) began to spread as well. Membership of the Royal Agricultural Society (founded in 1838) grew and blossomed under royal support. There was a growth in professional standards among the agents who managed the great estates for their aristocratic owners.
• There was a huge increase in drainage projects, always expensive, to improve both the quality of land and the amount of land that was cultivated. In this period in the region of £20 million was spent on draining over 4 million acres of land.
• There was a growth of technical efficiency: some have called it another agricultural revolution, with much more intensive farming, designed to produce a much higher output per acre.
• There was development in the use of fertilisers (including imported ones like guano) and a lot of thought went into the correct feeding of animals and the way in which the land was used and the crops rotated.
• Machinery such as the steam driven threshing machines appeared on larger farms.
• There was also a much greater awareness of the needs of the market place, and the speed with which farmers adapted to the arrival of the railways was impressive. Cattle were shifted to market quickly without the need for long-distance droves that weakened them and reduced their weight and price. The Vale of Evesham in central England rapidly adapted to the provision of fruit and vegetables for the London markets.

What were the main weaknesses in British agriculture during this period?

• The agricultural labourer was still badly treated, and there was no serious improvements in their pay, working or living conditions until trade unions developed layer in the century.
• There was still a great deal of conservatism in farming. At the beginning of this period over 20% of the cultivated acreage consisted of units under 100 acres (40 hectares) and there is little evidence of change throughout this period. The farms really suited to the age of ‘high farming’ were over 300 acres and they were less than 30% of the total number of farms. The majority of farms were not suited to the new age, and in many cases it passed them by.
• There was often a poor return on money invested. The Duke of Northumberland spent over £500,000 on improvements in this period and never got more than a 2% return on his capital.
• There was still insecurity of tenure for tenant farmers who cultivated the smaller farms, and therefore had little need to improve the quality of land or their methods. The situation was not confined to the Irish tenant farmer, and a parliament dominated by large-scale landowners, who got their income from tenant farmers, was unlikely to support any major changes. Landlords liked to keep leases short as in the age before the secret ballot they liked to influence their voting behaviour. If they voted contrary to their landlords wishes they could easily be evicted.
• The system of farming had become too dependent on growing markets and rising prices, and was unable to rid itself of the need to grow wheat.
• Farming was still dependent on the weather and heavy rainfall in the early 1860s caused major problems and showed the limitation of the ‘boom’. Much of the boom was dependent on outside factors over which neither Britain nor any of its farmers had any control.

To what extent was this a boom time for British agriculture?

• There was stability in the price of wheat and other prices rose steadily, but not spectacularly.
• The best growth in prices lay in livestock-related areas.
• A steady increase in major elements of farming was bound to have a good impact on farmers generally.
• As real wages rose nationally, and in particularly urban areas, and with a growing m/c spending an increasing proportion of their income on quality food, there was certain to be an increase in demand for meat, all types of dairy produce, and of course wool.
• Rural depopulation could be absorbed by the growing demand for labour in the towns and factories, so the problems caused by mechanisation and the switch to live-stock based farming, which used less labour than crop farming, was not too noticeable. Also the huge drainage works absorbed a lot of labour.
• The huge urban demand for milk, which rail could meet, also lead to a shift in the use of the labour force to milking and transportation.
• With excellent market conditions and a growing population and rail making access to towns easy, prices rose steadily in most parts of farming produce (20%-50%). So when a severe depression came in the 1870s this period was looked back on as a period of prosperity.

Other Notes in this Category

1. Prussia and Germany – key dates
2. The Coalitions, Chancellors and Presidents of the Weimar Government and Nazi Germany 1919-1945
3. The State of British Agriculture between 1846 and 1868
4. The State of British Industry between 1846 and 1868

Didn't find this useful?

• Visit Coursework.Info for over 14,000 GCSE, A-Level and University Essays