Agriculture in 16th and 17th centuries


I try to introduce some 16th and 17th centuries general characteristics of agriculture and social development. Agriculture is a quite wide topic, so it was little bit difficult to gather all the things that would be most important in this period.
It seems that there exists a widespread consensus that the first sixty years of the 16th century were agricultural prosperity. This supposition seems to be situated in contradiction to the fact that there was stagnation in technical development and of the methods of cultivation. Methods were more or less same from Middle Ages to the agricultural revolution of the 18th century.


The use of iron for the equipment of tillage was still limited, so manpower and use of hoe played very important role. The living conditions of the majority of the population were very precarious. The nourishment in these periods were deficient and monotonous, principally based on cereals.
It was normal that people suffered of general scarcity, also the clothes weren´t so warm and adapted badly to the changes of climate. The infant mortality was also high because of lack of hygiene and bad nourishment. But nevertheless, the increase of the production was undoubted, especially of cereals.
How we can explain that this was an expansive period of the production? Some factors show that agriculture of the western Europe at the beginning of the Modern Age was the period of agricultural restoration? We can say that work became itself more rational and very important inventions were made in the technologies of agricultural production.
In this period where the subsistence seemed to be very difficult, it was not possible to risk in uncertain experiments that could fail and cause general hunger. On the other hand, the rudimentary character of the agricultural instruments ment that farmers needed to expand the innovations on the field. The margin for the innovation and experimentation was very limited and only the great landowners had possibility to accept the risk. Agriculture was usually very tied to commonity, and the farmes did not adopt new methods very easily, beacause there was always risk of fail. This explains stability and immobility of the agricultural societies, the slowness the process of changes.

Generally there were demand to modify the rural life and all the big transformations that we can see in history of agriculture imposed from out of it. The Renaissance was a period full of convulsions and changes that necessarily had to concern, directly or indirectly, in the agricultural sector, which also then represented the base of subsistence of the society. The activity of the cities, the growth of the population, the expansion of the industry, the geographical discoveries and the progresses of the science are determinant factors of the change of the rural structure.


The press.

One of the factors that influenced strongly the rationalization of the cultivation was the press. At the end of the 15th century there appeared many printed manuals of agricultural technologies. It was surprising that even majority of the population could not read, the knowledge of agricultural books were then transmitted by oral tradition.
So at the end of 15th century there appeared many agricultural manuals because the experience of printing grew so fast. The diffusion of manuals allowed to break the fundamental local tradition and to spread the knowledge many part of the world. Because of explorations and geographical knowledge there also appeared new plants to grow in Europe. For example in Italy and in some parts of France and Spain spread the cultivation of the mulberry and consequent production of cocoon (silk). Everywhere appeared botanical gardens of plants for the experimentation of new cultivation. In some countries like in Holland, new cultivation became very intensive and new cultivation areas spread usually to the surroundings of the cities.


The inflation and the capital investment.

Many authors coincider that very important transformation of agriculture happened in the at the beginning of the modern time. Massive abundance of gold and silver procendentes of America caused the monetary inflation, which was the reason of the ruin of many feudal owners who were living of fixed revenues. This allowed, on the other hand, the middle class to have their own part property of the soil.
The real innovation in this time was precisely the phenomenon of the capital investment in the land. A major demand of food which was provoked by the growth of the population and the successive abundance of gold and silver otherwise increased the economic optimism.
This favored an increase the production, which was translated by the time in an improvement of the living conditions and the demand of products increased again. On the other hand this caused raises of prices, that tryed to solve by the new remitances of american metals. The influence of all these factors unleashed a galloping inflation what was demonstrated firstly in Spain, but also spread later to the whole Europe. This encouraged to the revaluation of the land.

The merchants realize that the investment of money in lands is profitable and this originate new raise of prices of the agricultural products. Good parts of the lands which had abandoned during the XIVth and XVth century were occupied again and in many countries. Church was also willing to sell its lands on 16th century, because it needed capital investements. In shortly, the economic renaissance of the beginning of the Modern Age that spread to the agriculture, caused that agriculture was not only the way to get low subsistence. It was also possible to get small benefit from it. Nevertheless, in this process, the benefits of the general economic growth not always ment that there came benefits to the peasants because usually the lands were owned by bourgeois and citizens who have invested to the land which were rent to the peasants. This peasantry without lands limited the communal cultivation, but also can be seen as explotation of peasants. On the other hand, some citizens and bourgeoises who had invested their capital try to rationalize the cultivation, and the same time there started an exodus of the peasants. Cities were attractive because of expansion of urban economy.
And usually, whereas the price of the goods was rising constantly, the salaries of the workforce was remaining stable, and lot of capital accumulated to the middle class in 16th century. This process plunged the nascent proletariat and to part of the peasantry in the misery and poverty.


Demographic growth.

Other one of the factors what influenced to the expansion of the agriculture at the beginning of the 16th century was the growth of the population, though it would be more correct to say that demographic evolution and agrarian evolution were parallel. 16th century can be seen as a period of stability after the great demographic depression in earlier centuries, (population was suffering pests for example). One of the reason that explains this increase of the population might be growth of immunity against tuberculosis and pests, but also another factor might be some improvement of hygienic conditions.



The stagnation of the 17th century

Of the 17th century´s agriculture we do not know so much. It seems that it was rather a period of stagnation and routine. In most of Europa the same methods of cultivation continued from the Middle Ages and in general the feudal relations of production were same.

In England, this was demonstrated better than other parts of the world because they use almost same methods than in Middle Ages. The 17th centyry monetary crisis also concerned the agriculture and the hunger flogged fields and cities. Germany suffered the devastating effects of the Thirty Years War, which charged one to two thirds of his population.
The peasants fled to the cities and hundreds of villages left in ruins. The pest, the hunger and the misery turned into the habitual reality in Germany. In Spain, the relative prosperity of the agriculture in the 16th century opened way to the pest, the misery and the vagrancy.

The enclosures of lands.

In England, as like in other many European countries, the cultivation was practised like the open field system and there was serious disadvantages to cultivate the land this way. It was like community cultivation; Lot of land was wasted, there was no felxibility, neighbours could be lazy and there was difficult to use new techniques and machinery without group decicion.

The majority of the enclosures, nevertheless, were used the way the were foreign to the interests the peasants. The most important thing was the expansion of the industry of cloths, which started at the beginning of the 16th century including cloth exportation and rise of prices of the wool.
Also development of cattle-raising influenced to peasants position, because it was possible to get great benefits from cattle and many landowners wanted transform their cultivation fields to cattle fields.

The rise of the prices provoked the decrease of the value of the money, and the landowners who had rent their lands had now less “salaries” so they had to ingrease the rents, and this affected specially to peasants in England. And as the cattle-raising demanded less workforce than cultivation, there arise a population who did not have any other chance than emigrate to the cities. This was the time when there broke out a new proletarian class and which started Industrial Revolution.

Mis fuentes: Agricultura y desarollo de capitalismo: Sereni, Zangheri, Berend,..1970
Historia de la Agricultura en Europa y América: Julio Luelmo, 1975