The Agricultural Revolution

Discusses recent research which has cast uncertainty on the dates of the agricultural revolution and on the role of innovation, enclosure and land distribution. The book also aims to show that the process of revolution was more gradual and complex than has been thought.

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Classically, the agricultural revolution has been taken to refer to the changes in British agriculture involving the move from labour to machinery which took place between 1760 and 1820. J.V.Beckett discusses recent research which has cast uncertainty on the dates of the agricultural revolution, and on the role of innovation, enclosure and land distribution. The book shows that the process of revolution was both more gradual and more complex than has been thought, and discusses the implications our changing perceptions of the agricultural revolution have for our view of the relation between agriculture and the national economy.