Britain’s Conquest to Achieve the Most Efficient Means of Agricultural Productivity

The Green Giant:

Britain’s conquest to achieve the most efficient means of agricultural productivity

Throughout the 18th and 19th century France had a substantial advantage over Britain with respect to quantity of land and population. Although this difference was large, Britain experienced a much higher agricultural output relative to population than that of France. At the turn of the 18th century Britain and France were on level playing grounds. Both countries had just recently exited the medieval ages that dominated the majority of Europe until the 16th century. But in the 18th and well into the 19th centuries Britain experienced dynamic and progressive growth, while France remained stagnant and medieval. Whether it was Britain’s superior investment in capital, or the adoption of new efficient technologies like the ‘labor-saving‘ Norfolk plow, the dominance over France was evident. Britain was able to achieve and sustain a high agricultural productivity relative to France due to their increased capital investment, innovative technology and superb agriculture organizational decision-making. These three elements are important variables in the agriculture production function that can roughly determine the overall productivity of a country.

The function for agricultural output can be derived from five variables. The quality and quantity of land, labor, capital, technology and organization can determine the agricultural output and ultimately productivity of a country. It was not one or two factors of this function that allowed Britain to be productively superior; it was a culmination of all five. In 1771 profit from the agricultural sector was relatively equal between the two countries. England received 18 237 691 £ while France produced 17 823 000 £ from agricultural profits (Sexauer, 1976). Although French and English outputs are perceived equal, productivity per acre was the key determinant of English...