Taking Measure: Relationship of Crop Harvested to Seed Used, 1400–1800
The impact and even the timing of the agricultural revolution can be determined by this figure, based on yield ratios (the number of grains produced for each seed planted). Britain, the Dutch Republic, and the Austrian Netherlands all experienced huge increases in crop yields after 1700. Other European regions lagged behind right into the 1800s.
Source: Peter J. Hugill, World Trade since 1431: Geography, Technology, and Capitalism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), 56.
Questions to Consider
- Why is crop yield such an important measure of a country’s agricultural output?
- How would crop yields in this era impact a country’s overall population and trading opportunities?