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What was the impact of the Enclosure Acts and new farming practices?
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The Enclosure Acts significantly impacted agriculture and society by transforming communal lands into privately-owned properties, increasing agricultural efficiency and productivity through new practices like crop rotation. This shift forced many rural dwellers to migrate to urban areas, fueling urbanization and industrialization during the Industrial Revolution. The acts also marked a shift towards capitalism, as land became a commodity for profit, ending feudal practices and creating a new urban working class.
The Enclosure Acts revolutionized farming practices, making agriculture the servant of the growing towns and cities created by the Industrial Revolution. As more and more rural dwellers were forced off their land by the new legislation, many of them moved to the rapidly developing urban conurbations in search of work.
In turn, this meant that agricultural production was increasingly geared towards meeting the demands of an urban market. As a result, agricultural production had to become more efficient, more cost effective. Those agricultural laborers who remained in the hamlets and villages of the English countryside found themselves having to work longer and harder as they were no longer just providing food for themselves and their families, or even just for the local village or market town, but for the burgeoning towns and cities of industrial Britain.
The enclosure acts were a series of actions by the British government whereby they...
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took large tracts of land from the poor and gave them to private owners in order to increase production. Large tracts of land that previously belonged to the community were seized by the government because the peasants had let them go to "waste" (there were some marshes and ferns growing in some parts of the "waste" field). As compensation, the peasants were given less fertile small pieces of land to meet their direct needs.
The execution of the enclosure acts eventually led to the discovery of new farming methods, like crop rotation. Crop rotation led to improved productivity because it allowed the soil to regain its fertility over time.
References
The Enclosure Acts were laws passed by the British Parliament to enclose, or fence off, farm land that had been previously open. Many enclosure acts were passed from about 1600 to 1900, thereby shutting off peasants from common lands on which they could formerly graze their sheep and raise crops.
The Enclosure Acts were passed so that landowners could make higher profits from their land and increase agricultural productivity. Farmers began to use techniques that resulted in higher yields and profits.
In addition, peasants who formerly worked the land were forced to leave rural areas because their labor was not needed. As a result, they flooded into urban areas before and during the Industrial Revolution, often forming part of the new factory working class. They also often immigrated--first to Northern Ireland and then to British colonies in the New World. Therefore, the process of enclosure resulted in augmenting the processes of urbanization, industrialization, and immigration. In addition, many historians cite the process of enclosure as the beginning of capitalism and the end of feudalism, as lands that were formerly held in common (or held by lords and used by peasants) became the domains of individuals who used them to increase profits.
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