Chapter 53: Agricultural Prospects
TL: Etude
After confirming his cooperation with Hansel, Paul Grayman began to contemplate the agricultural issues within his territory.
Firstly, regarding land ownership, nominally all land in the Alda territory belonged to the Grayman family, similar to how all land in ancient China belonged to the emperor. However, the actual distribution of land used for agricultural production was as follows:
Nearly one-third of the arable land was directly under the lords manor, and its produce belonged entirely to the Grayman family. Slightly more than one-third was occupied by large landowners and gentry in various villages and towns (including vassals of the Grayman family), who paid taxes to the lords manor annually, keeping the remainder of the produce for themselves. The remaining third was owned by a significant number of self-farming peasants or small landowners.
Following the usual pattern, a Count like Paul would typically initiate a violent or mild land redistribution reform, ensuring every farmer in his territory had a plot of land to sustain themselves and their families, achieving the ideal of the tiller owns the land, and then basking in universal acclaim.
However, Pauls aspiration was not for a happy pastoral life under a small-scale farming economy. He envisioned industrialized, large-scale machine production, and small-scale farming was one of the major obstacles on the road to industrialization.
First, the small-scale farming economy bound a large number of peasants to small plots of land, restricting the formation of free labor. The lack of labor would limit the speed of industrial development.
Second, the self-sufficiency and instability of the small-scale farming economy meant that the small farmers lived in poverty, lacking the means to purchase more consumer goods. This led to a narrow market, hindering the development of the commodity economy.
Third, the weak economic power of small-scale farmers made it difficult for them to afford expensive machinery, adopt new technologies, or undertake large-scale soil improvement and irrigation projects. This was detrimental to increasing the yield of arable land.
Finally, the long-term existence of small plots of land would hinder the intensification of agricultural specialization, restrict the expansion of economic crops, and delay the commercialization of agricultural products.
All these factors would impede the development of industrialization. Not to mention the negative role of the small-scale farming economy in the modern history of China, even comparing the impacts of modern land systems in France and England on their industrialization reveals a lot.
After the French bourgeois revolution, the old feudal land relations were destroyed, and the lands of nobles and the Church were confiscated and distributed among peasants, making them small landowners. This had great progressive significance at the time and even increased the enthusiasm of the farmers, promoting economic development.
However, for various reasons, this small-scale farming economy based on small land private ownership persisted in France for over a hundred years. Gradually, it became a shackle on industrial development, delaying Frances historical transition from an agricultural to an industrial nation. This is one of the important reasons for Frances relatively slow economic development in the late 19th century.
England, however, was different. Although the enclosure movement, likened to sheep eating people, caused countless peasants to lose their homes and become destitute, filled with violence and oppression, it objectively provided favorable conditions for the Industrial Revolution in England.
Peasants who lost their land moved to cities for livelihood, accelerating urbanization and providing cheap, free labor for industrial development.
The enclosure movement consolidated many previously fragmented lands into larger plots, facilitating the planting of new crops, the application of better fertilizers, the use of improved tools, the reform of irrigation systems, and the adoption of advanced farming methodsthese were beyond the capabilities of small farmers and significantly increased the overall agricultural output.
This is one of the key reasons why France, with similarly fruitful scientific developments in the 18th century, did not see the Industrial Revolution occur first, unlike England.
Therefore, Paul not only did not intend to equalize the land, but also wanted to further centralize it.
With the collaboration with Hansel confirmed, Paul Grayman turned his attention to solving the agricultural issues in his territory.
The land owned by the lords manor and various large landowners was sufficiently centralized in terms of ownership, but geographically dispersed. Paul needed to coordinate with all parties for land exchange, promote land circulation and centralized management through a series of policies and regulations, encourage the establishment of large farms, promote agricultural mechanization, and build large-scale irrigation projects according to the distribution of arable land.
For the self-farming peasants and small landowners, using violent means to strip them of their ownership was not in Pauls considerations. His upbringing and education in his previous life made him unwilling to betray his spiritual class. Since they already existed, they would serve as a supplement to the large farm economy, with a higher yield per unit under the same conditions, after all, the intensive farming practices of ancient China fed a population of over a billion and had many advantages.
He planned to establish organizations like agricultural associations and cooperatives at the village level, with the lords manor funding the purchase of farming tools, oxen, and other production materials to be rented to self-farming peasants at a low cost, thereby helping them improve labor efficiency.
As for the labor force needed for industrialization, he set his sights on another large group within his territorythe serfs. Slavery existed in this world and was quite common.
Ironically, the Church, which Paul both despised and feared, was the biggest opponent of the slavery system. One of its important founding principles was that all men are equal under God. After the Churchs status was widely recognized by various countries, it vigorously promoted several abolitionist movements. However, these efforts ultimately failed due to the resistance of vested interests, and as the Churchs higher echelons increasingly aligned with the nobility, this ideal gradually remained only a slogan.
But Count Paul did not plan to just pay lip service; subjectively, he could not accept the existence of slavery, and objectively, industrial development required a large labor force. Therefore, abolishing slavery within his own territory was imperative.
For the serfs directly under the lords manor, Paul intended to grant them freedom to choose whether to stay or leave. Those who stayed would be trained as agricultural workers in his new farms. As for the serfs owned by the large landowners, if they were not freed, they would have to face the crushing wheel of history.
As for the agricultural labor force lost due to abolition, it could be completely compensated by promoting new farming tools. Machinery and equipment that were useless on narrow lands could be effectively used in new large farms.
Paul planned to manufacture agricultural machinery such as the Rotherham plow, Crosskills clod crusher, serrated harrows, seed drills, reapers, threshing machines, and more. These could all be manufactured under current technological conditions and operated merely by animal power, being the key tools in Britains 18th-century agricultural revolution.
Another method to increase land yield was the four-field crop rotation system, which involved dividing all arable land into four parts. Each part would be planted with turnips, barley, clover, and wheat, respectively, and rotated annually.
This system eliminated fallow land, and the cultivated land after harvest was not used for grazing. Instead, pastures were converted into arable land, expanding the area for crop cultivation. It involved planting leguminous pasture and applying livestock manure, which accelerated the restoration and improvement of soil fertility. This not only facilitated a steady increase in crop yield but also ensured the long-term and rational use of arable land and provided quality feed for livestock. It encouraged the transition from grazing to stall feeding in livestock farming, which improved the production level of animal husbandry.
Then there was the cultivation of improved crop varieties, but this was an area Paul was not very knowledgeable about. He could only wait to recruit relevant agricultural experts to implement this aspect.
Paul firmly believed that through the above series of reforms, the agricultural output of Alda territory would see a significant improvement. This would free and support more labor, paving the way for future industrialization.
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