from c. 1800
Agriculture in the industrial era
Machines, synthetic fertiliser and modern plant breeding change the work, scale and yields of farming. 54 topics from from c. 1800.
- Topics
- 54
- Time span
- 1750 CE – 1980 CE
- Regions
- 6
- Sources cited
- 630
In brief
54 topics from 1750 CE to 1980 CE. Most of them come from Americas (21), Europe (19), Intercontinental (6). The main subjects are society & land (14), science & experiments (13), technology & breeding (11). The earliest is Parliamentary enclosure in England (About 1750–1850, England · Helpston); the most recent is Precision Agriculture: GPS, Sensors and Yield Maps (1980s–early twenty-first century, Ames, Iowa · United States).
Prehistorybefore c. 3000 BCE13 topicsAntiquityc. 3000 BCE – 500 CE10 topicsMiddle Agesc. 500–150016 topicsEarly modernc. 1500–18007 topicsIndustrial erafrom c. 180054 topics
Topics in chronological order
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- About 1750–1850Industrial eraParliamentary enclosure in EnglandThe division of commons and reorganisation of fields reshaped farming while exposing conflicts over production, property and rural livelihoods.
- 4 August 1761Industrial eraLyon and the rise of veterinary educationBourgelat’s school organised knowledge about farm animals, combining practice, anatomy and the needs of agriculture and government.
- 1793Industrial eraBreadfruit reaches Saint Vincent and JamaicaThe Providence expedition carried breadfruit to British Caribbean colonies. Plants previously selected in Oceania became part of local food traditions.
- 1793–1794Industrial eraCotton ginning and the plantation economyWhitney’s design and subsequent improvements changed cotton processing within an economy connected to industry, slavery and Indigenous land dispossession.
- 1747–1865Industrial eraSugar Beet: From Marggraf to the Konary FactoryChemical experiments, crop selection and industrial processing created a new branch of the European agricultural economy.
- 1810Industrial eraAppert and the development of preserved foodsHeating food in closed containers connected seasonal harvests with processing businesses, packaging manufacture and later research.
- 1829Industrial eraThe Wardian case and living plant transportProtecting light and moisture helped living plants travel, with consequences for nurseries, commercial crops and biological risk controls.
- 1831 CEIndustrial eraThe history of agricultural mechanisationMechanical grain harvesting becomes a symbol of nineteenth-century changes in farm labour.
- From c. 1840Industrial eraThe Guano Boom: Peru and the Global Fertiliser TradeA marine ecosystem supplied nutrients to distant farms. Export expansion linked soil fertility with coerced labour, state finance and the depletion of accumulated deposits.
- 1842–1843Industrial eraBuffalo elevators and bulk grain handlingDart and Dunbar’s enterprise connected mechanical grain lifting with port storage; later development involved railways, quality standards and labour organisation.
- 1843Industrial eraRothamsted since 1843: fields that became a scientific archiveCrop yields, soil samples and weather observations kept across generations in long-term field experiments.
- 1845–1852Industrial eraThe Great Irish Famine: Farming, Poverty and MigrationPotato blight combined with poverty, unequal access to land and inadequate relief to produce a profound social catastrophe.
- 1840s–1870sIndustrial eraThe silkworm crisis and Pasteur’s investigationsA husbandry crisis connected mulberry farming with research on infection. Examining parents and identifying egg batches helped limit pébrine.
- From 1848Industrial eraChicago Board of Trade: Grain, Contracts and Market RulesQuality grades, warehouse documents and futures contracts changed how grain was sold and how price exposure was distributed.
- 1851–1853Industrial eraLangstroth’s hive and movable framesMovable frames supported repeated inspection and the reuse of sound comb; a patent and manual helped circulate the system.
- 1858Industrial eraThe Land Code of 1858: Agriculture and Rights in the Ottoman EmpireThe code organised cultivation, inheritance and transfers while retaining complex relationships among the state, possessors and communities.
- 1862Industrial eraThe Homestead Act of 1862: Farms, Ownership and the Costs of SettlementConditional land grants helped establish farms, but required capital and labour and formed part of a wider history of Indigenous dispossession.
- 2 July 1862Industrial eraThe Morrill Act of 1862: Colleges, Experiments and Agricultural ExtensionLand grants supported colleges; later laws connected teaching, research and extension. Expansion also involved Indigenous dispossession and racial segregation.
- Approximately 1863–1900Industrial eraPhylloxera: the crisis that rebuilt Europe’s vineyardsA root-feeding pest forced growers to combine European grape varieties with more resistant rootstocks of American origin.
- 19 February / 2 March 1864Industrial eraPeasant Land Emancipation in Congress Poland, 1864Land reform transformed peasant ownership and relations between villages, estates and the state, while leaving major agrarian inequalities.
- 1856–1863Industrial eraMendel and peas: making inheritance a quantitative questionFrom crossing garden peas to quantitative inheritance studies and the later development of scientific plant breeding.
- 24 November 1874Industrial eraBarbed wire and agriculture’s new boundariesGlidden’s patent helped industrialise fencing, supporting crop protection and grazing control while intensifying disputes over land.
- 1876–early 20th centuryIndustrial eraRubber: from Amazonia to Asian plantationsPlant transfers, botanic gardens, growers’ knowledge and migrant labour created a new geography of rubber production.
- 1877Industrial eraGoffart and the development of forage ensilingGoffart’s experiments and circulating manuals promoted ensiling, connecting crop storage with livestock, work organisation and developing knowledge of fermentation.
- 1882Industrial eraDunedin 1882: Frozen Meat Connects Farm and LondonRefrigeration opened a distant market for meat, connecting sheep farming with railways, industrial works and ocean shipping.
- 1882Industrial eraHjedding 1882: The Rise of Danish Dairy CooperativesFarmers pooled milk deliveries and ownership of processing, establishing common rules for quality, payments, borrowing and management.
- 1885Industrial eraMycorrhiza: fungi in plant nutritionFrank named mycorrhiza, while later researchers tested its mechanisms and significance for the nutrition of crop plants.
- c. 1887–1897Industrial eraRinderpest: African catastrophe and global eradicationAn epizootic that undermined many agricultural economies, followed by more than a century of work to end transmission worldwide.
- 1886Industrial eraRoot nodules and biological nitrogen fixationComparative experiments connected nitrogen gains in legumes with root nodules and living microorganisms, helping establish agricultural inoculation.
- 1888–1889Industrial eraThe ladybird that helped save California citrusIntroducing a natural enemy of cottony cushion scale became a famous crop-protection success whose mechanisms and limitations were studied for decades.
- Late nineteenth century–1960sIndustrial eraFrom Gros Michel to Cavendish: Crisis and the Banana TradeThe Gros Michel crisis required changes in cultivars, packaging and transport, reshaping production networks and work in exporting regions.
- 1899Industrial eraSoil Survey: putting soils on the mapFederal investigation and state cooperation developed soil mapping, while successive researchers revised concepts of profiles, classification and map interpretation.
- 1892–1916Industrial eraMarquis Wheat and the Saunders ProgrammeRed Fife and Hard Red Calcutta, successive selections, field trials and the distribution of Marquis seed.
- 1908–1940sIndustrial eraHybrid Maize: From Experimental Plots to the Seed IndustryControlled crosses, field experiments and specialised seed production changed how American farmers obtained planting material and assessed new varieties.
- 19 June 1913Industrial eraThe 1913 Land Act and Agricultural SegregationThe Act constrained access to land and strengthened pressure on farming families. Plaatje and Msimang documented its consequences within households.
- 1913 CEIndustrial eraThe Haber–Bosch process and nitrogen fertilisersIndustrial ammonia synthesis opens a new chapter in nitrogen fertiliser production.
- 1911–1993Industrial eraEjidos and Agrarian Reform in MexicoFrom revolutionary land claims through Cárdenas’s reforms to rights certification: institutions combining household parcels with common resources.
- 1917–1919 and 1939–1950Industrial eraThe Women’s Land Army: Women in Britain’s Wartime AgricultureWartime labour shortages brought organised recruitment of women for farms. Behind the posters were practical skills, demanding work and struggles over equal treatment.
- 1921Industrial eraLocust phase theory and observing agricultural threatsUvarov’s theory connected different locust forms and opened investigation of density, behaviour and habitat in the development of crop threats.
- 1924–2000Industrial eraOrganic Farming: From Koberwitz to IFOAMCourses, composting, experiments and associations turned dispersed ideas into an organic farming movement and systems of market standards.
- 1920s–1930sIndustrial eraSeed banks: from Vavilov’s expeditions to safety duplicates in SvalbardCollecting, documenting and regenerating crop diversity, and creating secure copies of genebank collections.
- 1929–1933Industrial eraCollectivisation, 1929–1933: The Coercive Transformation of Soviet AgricultureState control, confiscation and repression destroyed farm autonomy and contributed to catastrophic famines with distinct regional experiences.
- 1930sIndustrial eraThe Dust Bowl: Drought, Soil Erosion and Agricultural ChangeRepeated drought, exposed soils and economic distress produced dust storms, migration and a lasting expansion of public soil conservation.
- 1935–1936Industrial eraRural Electrification: How the REA Changed American Farm LifePublic credit, cooperatives and new distribution networks changed food production and the everyday work of farming households.
- 1940s–1960sIndustrial eraThe Green Revolution in agricultural historyWheat breeding and changes in cultivation methods enable higher grain production.
- 1943–1944Industrial eraThe Bengal Famine: Rice, War and Access to FoodThe damaged 1942 crop, wartime restrictions, lost purchasing power and delayed relief in the catastrophe of rural Bengal.
- 6 September 1944Industrial eraPoland’s Land Reform of 1944: Redistribution, Dispossession and Rural ChangeThe PKWN decree combined peasant land allotments with the dispossession of estate owners and the consolidation of a new political order.
- 16 October 1945Industrial eraFAO in 1945: Agriculture and Nutrition Become an International ResponsibilityA permanent postwar institution linked knowledge of agricultural production, nutrition and rural life with cooperation between governments.
- 1946–1950Industrial eraJapan’s Land Reform, 1946–1950: From Tenants to Owner-CultivatorsGovernment purchase and resale of farmland transformed property, incomes and rural power while retaining the family farm as the basic unit of cultivation.
- 1962Industrial eraSilent Spring: agriculture and ecological responsibilityRachel Carson’s book accelerated debate over pesticides in the environment, risk investigation and the organisation of crop protection.
- 1962Industrial eraThe Common Agricultural Policy in 1962: From Market Organisation to ReformCommon agricultural markets, intervention and shared finance reshaped relations between farms, consumers and public institutions.
- 1970–1996Industrial eraOperation Flood: Cooperatives and India’s Dairy TransformationOperation Flood connected smallholder procurement, processing, urban sales and animal husbandry services within a long-term development programme.
- Since the 1970sIndustrial eraCerrado: Research, Soybeans and Landscape ChangeSoil science, plant breeding and bacteria combined with credit and infrastructure to reshape production, social relationships and Cerrado ecosystems.
- 1980s–early twenty-first centuryIndustrial eraPrecision Agriculture: GPS, Sensors and Yield MapsSatellite navigation, yield mapping and machine control connect observations with decisions for different parts of a field.
Where it happened
47England · Helpston48Lyon · France49Saint Vincent and Jamaica49Saint Vincent and Jamaica49Saint Vincent and Jamaica50Georgia · United States51Konary · Lower Silesia52Massy and Paris · France53London and ocean routes53London and ocean routes54Virginia · United States55Chincha Islands · Peru56Buffalo · United States57Harpenden · England58Ireland59Alès · southern France60Chicago · United States61Philadelphia · United States62Ottoman Empire63Great Plains · United States64United States65Southern France66Kingdom of Poland67Brno · Moravia68DeKalb · Illinois69Amazonia · Kew · Malaya69Amazonia · Kew · Malaya69Amazonia · Kew · Malaya70Sologne · France71Dunedin · New Zealand71Dunedin · New Zealand72Hjedding · Denmark73Berlin · Germany74Eastern and Southern Africa75Bernburg · Germany76California · United States77Central America and the Caribbean78United States79Ottawa · Canada79Ottawa · Canada80Corn Belt · United States80Corn Belt · United States81South Africa81South Africa82Oppau · Germany83Mexico84Great Britain85Caucasus, London and Africa85Caucasus, London and Africa85Caucasus, London and Africa86Koberwitz (Kobierzyce) · Poland86Koberwitz (Kobierzyce) · Poland86Koberwitz (Kobierzyce) · Poland87St Petersburg and Svalbard87St Petersburg and Svalbard88USSR · Ukraine and Kazakhstan88USSR · Ukraine and Kazakhstan88USSR · Ukraine and Kazakhstan89Great Plains · United States90Rural United States91Mexico → India and Pakistan91Mexico → India and Pakistan92Bengal · British India93Poland94Quebec City · Canada95Japan96United States97Brussels · European Community98Anand · Gujarat, India99Cerrado · Brazil100Ames, Iowa · United States
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Questions and answers
Which is the earliest topic in this era?
Parliamentary enclosure in England: About 1750–1850; general legislation in 1801 and 1845, England; local example: Helpston.
Which is the most recent?
Precision Agriculture: GPS, Sensors and Yield Maps: 1980s–early twenty-first century; GPS milestones: 1995 and 2000, United States, Europe and Australia; example centre: Ames, Iowa.
Which regions are covered?
Americas (21), Europe (19), Intercontinental (6), Asia (5), Africa (2), Oceania (1).
Which subjects are covered?
Society & land (14), Science & experiments (13), Technology & breeding (11), Environment & crises (9), Trade & exchange (5), Land & water (1), Food processing (1).
Agriculture today on Husfarm
From history to the present: prices, shows and the companies that shape farming now.