Chapter 53 Agricultural Outlook
After confirming the cooperation with Hansel, Paul Greiman began to consider agricultural issues in the territory.
First of all, in terms of land ownership, nominally, all the land in the Arda Territory belongs to the Graiman family, just like all the land in the ancient world belonged to the emperor, but the cultivated land is actually used for agricultural production. It belongs to the following:
Nearly one-third of the cultivated land belongs directly to the lord's mansion, and all the output on the land belongs to the Graiman family. More than one-third of the land is owned by large landowners in various villages and towns. Occupied by the squires (including the retainers of the Gleyman family), they paid annual taxes to the lord's house, and the remaining output belonged to themselves. A weak third of the land belonged to a large number of yeomen or small landowners.
According to the general routine, the Earl should carry out a violent or moderate land redistribution reform, so that every farmer in the territory has a piece of land that can support himself and his family, so that there is land for the tiller. , and then everyone sang the lord's glorious name.
But Paul is not looking forward to the happy pastoral life under the small-scale peasant economy. What he looks forward to is industrialized machine production, and the small-scale peasant economy is one of the major obstacles on the road to industrialization.
First of all, the small-scale peasant economy binds a large number of farmers to small plots of land, limiting the formation of free labor. The lack of labor will limit the speed of industrial development.
Secondly, the self-sufficiency and instability of the small farmer economy make the majority of small farmers live in poverty and have no power to purchase more consumer goods. This results in a narrow market and hinders the development of the commodity economy.
Thirdly, small farmers have weak economic strength and are unable to purchase expensive machinery, adopt other new technologies, or carry out large-scale soil improvement and water conservancy construction, which is not conducive to increasing the yield of cultivated land.
Finally, the long-term existence of small pieces of land will also hinder the strengthening of agricultural division of labor, restrict the expansion of cash crops, and delay the progress of commercialization of agricultural products.
All of the above factors will prevent the development of industrialization. Not to mention the negative role of the small-scale peasant economy in the modern history of the Chinese dynasty, a comparison of the impact of the modern land systems of France and Britain on the industrialization of the two countries can illustrate many problems.
After the Great Bourgeois Revolution broke out in France, it destroyed the old feudal land relations, deprived the nobility and church of their land and gave it to peasants, making them small landowners. This was of great progressive significance at the time and also It improves the enthusiasm of farmers and promotes economic development.
However, due to various reasons, this small peasant economy based on the private ownership of small plots of land has continued in France for more than 100 years. The small-scale peasant economy gradually became a fetter for industrial development, delaying the historical process of France's transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial country. This was one of the important reasons for the relatively slow economic development of France in the late 19th century.
The situation in the UK is different. Although the enclosure movement, which has been likened to "sheep eating people", has bankrupted countless farmers and made them homeless. The period was full of violence, oppression and caused countless tragedies. The Industrial Revolution provided favorable conditions.
Farmers who lost their land moved into cities in order to make a living, accelerating the process of urbanization and providing cheap free labor for the development of industry.
The land enclosure movement connected a large amount of land that was originally divided into small plots, making it easier to plant new crops, add better fertilizers, use better tools, reform irrigation systems, and adopt advanced farming methods - these These are all things that small farmers and small households cannot afford on their own, thus greatly increasing the overall output of agricultural production.
This is also one of the important reasons why the scientific development in France was equally fruitful in the 18th century, but the Industrial Revolution first occurred in Britain.
So, not only did Paul not want to "equalize the land," he also wanted to further concentrate the land. The land owned by the Lord's Mansion and major landowners is already concentrated in terms of ownership, but it is still relatively dispersed geographically. He needs to coordinate the land replacement with all owners, promote land transfer and business concentration through a series of policies and regulations, and promote The establishment of large-scale farms and the promotion of agricultural mechanization, as well as the construction of large-scale water conservancy projects according to the distribution of cultivated land.
For those yeoman farmers and small landowners, using violent means to deprive them of their ownership is not within the scope of Paul's consideration. His background and education in his previous life made him unwilling to betray his own rights. "Spiritual class". Since it already exists, as a supplement to the large farm economy, the unit output under the same conditions will be higher. After all, the intensive farming of the Chinese dynasty to feed a population of more than one billion has many advantages.
He planned to establish organizations such as farmers' associations and cooperatives on a village basis. The lord's government would pay for farm tools, cattle and other production materials, and rent them to farmers at low prices to help them improve their labor efficiency.
As for the labor force required for industrialization, he focused on another large group in the territory-serfs. Slavery existed in this world and was very common.
Ironically speaking, the church that Paul both despised and feared was actually the biggest opponent of slavery. One of its important concepts at the beginning of its establishment was that everyone is equal under God, and the status of the church was recognized by all countries. After being widely recognized, several abolitionist movements were vigorously promoted, but in the end they failed due to the resistance of vested interests. As the church's top leaders and the nobles of various countries became more and more in line with the trend, this concept gradually remained just a slogan.
But the Earl does not intend to just shout a slogan. Subjectively, he cannot accept the existence of slavery. Objectively, developing industry requires a large amount of labor, so it is imperative to abolish slavery in his own territory. Must do.
For the serfs directly under the lord's mansion, Paul planned to give them freedom and let them stay or go. The remaining ones would be trained as agricultural workers in his new farm. As for the serfs owned by the major landowners, if they do not release them, they will wait for the wheels of history to crush them.
As for the agricultural labor force lost due to the abolition of slavery, it can be completely replenished by promoting new agricultural tools. Machinery or equipment that is useless on narrow land can be effectively used in new large-scale farms.
Paul intends to manufacture Rotherham plows, Croskill breaker, saw-tooth harrows, drills, harvesters, threshers and other agricultural machinery, which are completely feasible under the current technical conditions. Made and able to operate solely on animal power, they were all powerful tools in the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century.
Another way to increase land yields is the four-bed rotation method. This planting system divides all cultivated land into four cultivated areas, and grows turnips, barley, and clover in the four cultivated areas. and crops such as wheat, which are rotated every year.
It abolishes land fallow, and the cultivated land after crop harvest is not used as grazing land, and the grazing land is converted into cultivated land, which expands the crop planting area; it grows leguminous pasture and applies livestock manure to accelerate the recovery and improve soil fertility. It is not only conducive to the steady growth of crop yields, but also to the long-term rational use of cultivated land. It can also provide high-quality house feed for livestock; it promotes the transformation of livestock breeding from grazing to house feeding, and is conducive to the improvement of the production level of the livestock industry.
There is also the cultivation of improved seeds, but Paul doesn’t quite understand this. He can only wait until relevant agricultural experts are recruited before implementing this matter.
Paul firmly believes that after the above-mentioned series of reforms, the agricultural output of Ardaland will definitely increase significantly, which will release and support more labor force, paving the way for future industrialization.
(End of this chapter)