Peasants and Farmers

The Coming of Modern Agriculture in England

Captain Swing Movement - Attacks were made on the houses of farmers, grain stores were put on fire and machines were broken. Farmers recieved letters urging them to stop using machines, were signed by Captain Swing. Govt. arrested the suspects, were tried, nine hanged, some transported and many were put behind bars.
The Time of Open fields and Commons
Open Fields - Stripes of land in the countryside of varying qaulity, given to peasants for agriculture.
Commons - Land accessible to all villagers, where they can graze their animals, collect forest products, catch fish and hunt animals.
Enclosures - With the rise in population, demand also increased. Rich farmers began dividing and enclosing common land, preventing the poorsfrom entering the enclosed lands. British Parliament passed 4000 Acts legalising these enclosures.
New Demands for Grain
(i) Rise in Population
(ii) People began to live and work in urban areas
(iii) War between France and England
The Age of Enclosures
In nineteenth century grain production in England grew as quickely as population. This was done by -
(i) by bringing new land under cultivation
(ii) by growing turnip and clover, these crops improved the soil and made it more fertile
What happenned to the poor ?
(i) Enclosures deprived poor of their customary rights of collection of the forest products, now everything was avialable on payment basis only
(ii) Deprived of their rights and driven off the lands, workers moved in search of work
(iii) Work became insecure, employment uncertain, income unstable. For large part of the year the poor had no work.
The introduction of Threshing Machines
(i) Napoleonic wars created a shortage of labour on the other hand demand of food grains increased, hence farmers brought machines
(ii) Once the war was over soldiers returend back and the damand also fall
(iii) People were not able to find jobs as their jobs were taken over by the machines. In frustration, they started attacking on machines.

Bread Basket and Dust Bowl

(i) Till the end of the eighteenth century maximum land in America was covered under natural vegetation
(ii) White Americans lived in a narrow strip of coastal land in the east
(iii) Native American groups survived by hunting, gathering, fishing or by doing shifting cultivation
The Westward move and Wheat Cultivation
(i) With the formation of USA, white settlers started moving towards west, America seemed to be a land of promise.
(ii) White settlers drove American Indians westwards and settled in the Applachian, than in Mississippi valley, cleared land and sowed corn and wheat.
The Wheat Farmers
(i) Rise in urban population led to rise in deamnd of wheat
(ii) Spread of Railways and First World War led to more demand

(iii) US President Wilson said -’Plant more wheat, wheat will win us war.’

The coming of New Technology

(i) When the farmers entered the mid-western prairies they needed new types of implements to break the sod and the soil
(ii) To harvest crop they initially used cradle or sickle. In 1831 Cyrus McCormick invented the first Mechanical reaper. By early twentieth century most farmers were using combined harvesters to cut grain.
(iii) With power-driven machinery, four men could plough, seed and harvest 2000 to 4000 acres of wheat in a season.
What happenned to the poor ?
(i) Those who were not able to pay back their debts, deserted their farms and looked jobs elsewhere
(ii) Production expanded rapidly, unsold stocks piled up, storehouses overflowed with grain, all this led to the Great Agrarian Depression of the 1930s.
Dust Bowl
(i) In the 1930s terrifying duststorms i.e. Black Blizzards rolled in. People were blinded and choked, cattle were suffocated to death. Sand buried fences, covered fields and coated the surfaces of rivers till the fish died. Machines were logged with dust, damaged beyond repair.
(ii) The entire landscape was ploughed, stripped of all grass, tractors had turned the soil over and broken the sod into dust. Whenever there were years of drought, blowing wind turned ordinary storms into Black Blizzards.

The Indian Farmer and Opium Production

During the colonial time period, British rulers tried to impose a regular system of land revenue, increase revenue rates and expand the area under cultivation.
By the end of the century, India became a major centre for production of sugarcane, cotton, jute, wheat and several other crops for export. More and more farmers were now producing for feeding the urban population and to supply to the mills of Europe.
A Taste for Tea: The Trade with China
(i) The English East India Company was buying tea and silk from China. The quantum of the tea trade was so much that it affected the profitability of the East India Company.
(ii) The Confucian rulers of China, the Manchus were not willing to allow the entry of foreign goods. This meant an outflow of treasure from England because tea could be bought only by making payment in silver coins or bullion. The English traders wanted a community which could be easily sold in China so that the import of tea could be financed in a profitable way.
(iii) Western merchants began an illegal trade in opium in the mid-eighteenth century. Opium was unloaded in a number of sea ports of south-eastern China and carried by local agents into the interiors.
Where did Opium come from?
(i) After conquering Bengal, the British went on to produce opium in the lands under their control. With the growth of market for opium in China, export from Bengal ports increased.
(ii) The Indian farmers were not willing to produce opium becouse
a. They were not willing to divert their best fields for opium cultivation because it would have resulted in poor production cereals and pulses.
b. Many cultivators did not own land. For opium cultivation, they had to lease land from landlords and pay rent.
c. The cultivation of opium was a difficult process and time consuming. This would have left little time for the farmers to care for other crops.
d.The government paid very low price for the opium which made it an unprofitable proposition.
How Were Unwilling Cultivators Made to Produce Opium?
The British introduced a system of advances to attract the unwilling farmers into opium cultivation. The farmer could not grow any other crop after taking the advance for opium cultivation. Moreover, he also had to accept the low price offered for the produce. The government was never keen to increase the procurement prices. It wanted to buy very cheap and sell at high premium to the opium agents in Calcutta. Thus, the British wanted to earn huge profit in opium trade.
This system was not in favour of farmers and hence many of them began agitating against the system by the early eighteenth century. They also began to refuse the advances. Many cultivators sold their crop to travelling traders who offered higher prices.
By 1773, the British government in Bengal had established a monopoly to trade in opium. No one else was legally permitted to trade in the product. By the 1820s, the British found that there was a drastic fall in opium production in their territories. The production of opium was increasing outside the British territories. It was produced in Central India and Rajasthan which were not under British control. The local traders in these regions were offering much higher prices to peasants. Armed bands of traders used to carry the opium trade in the 1820s. The Government instructed its agents in those princely states to confiscate all opium and destroy the crops.