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The British Agricultural Revolution was the unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain due to increases in labour and land productivity between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries. Agricultural output grew faster than the population over the century to 1770, and thereafter productivity remained among the highest in the world. This increase in the food supply contributed to the rapid growth of population in England and Wales, from 5.5 million in 1700 to over 9 million by 1801 though domestic production gave way increasingly to food imports in the nineteenth century as population more than tripled to over 32 million. The rise in productivity accelerated the decline of the agricultural share of the labour force, adding to the urban workforce on which industrialization depended: the Agricultural Revolution has therefore been cited as a cause of the Industrial Revolution.〔 〕 One important element in this change was the move in crop rotation to turnips and clover in place of fallow. Turnips can be grown in winter and are deep rooted, allowing them to gather minerals unavailable to shallow rooted crops. Clover fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form of fertiliser. This permitted the intensive arable cultivation of light soils on enclosed farms and provided fodder to support increased livestock numbers whose manure added further to soil fertility. ==Major developments and innovations== The British Agricultural Revolution was the result of the complex interaction of social, economic and farming technology changes. Major developments and innovations include: *Norfolk four-course crop rotation: Fodder crops, particularly turnips and clover, replaced leaving the land fallow.〔R. W. Sturgess, "The Agricultural Revolution on the English Clays." ''Agricultural History Review'' (1966): 104-121. (in JSTOIR )〕 *The Dutch improved the Chinese plough so that it could be pulled with fewer oxen or horses. *Enclosure: the removal of common rights to establish exclusive ownership of land *Development of a national market free of tariffs, tolls and customs barriers *Transportation infrastructures, such as improved roads, canals, and later, railways *Land conversion, land drains and reclamation *Increase in farm size *Selective breeding 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British Agricultural Revolution」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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