Agriculture was introduced in the
British Isles between about 5000 BC and 4500 BC, after a large influx of
Mesolithic people and after the end of the
Pleistocene epoch. It took 2,000 years for the practice to spread to all of the islands. Wheat and barley were grown in small plots near the family home. Sheep, goats and cattle were brought in from mainland Europe, and pigs were domesticated from wild boars already living in the forests. There is evidence of agricultural and hunter-gatherer groups meeting and trading with one another in the early part of the Neolithic. in Yorkshire. From the 16th century it developed a strong reputation in Europe for fishing.The Saxons and the Vikings had
open-field farming systems and there was an expansion of arable farming between the 8th-13th centuries in England Under the
Normans and
Plantagenets fens were drained, woods cleared and farmland expanded to feed a rising population, until the
Black Death reached Britain in 1349. Agriculture remained by far the most important part of the English economy during the 12th and 13th centuries. There remained a very wide variety in English agriculture, influenced by local geography; in areas where grain could not be grown, other resources were exploited instead. In the
Weald, for example, agriculture centred on grazing animals on the woodland pastures, whilst in
the Fens fishing and bird-hunting was supplemented by
basket-making and
peat-cutting. In some locations, such as
Lincolnshire and
Droitwich, salt manufacture was important, including production for the export market. Fishing became an important trade along the English coast, especially in
Great Yarmouth and
Scarborough, and the
herring was a particularly popular catch; salted at the coast, it could then be shipped inland or exported to Europe. In the
Middle Ages, the
wool trade was the England's main industry, and the country exported wool to Europe. Many market towns and ports grew up and prospered on the industry. The medieval English wool trade was one of the most important factors in the
medieval English economy. The
medievalist John Munro notes that "[n]o form of manufacturing had a greater impact upon the economy and society of medieval Britain than did those industries producing cloths from various kinds of wool." Following the
Black Death and the
agricultural depression of the late 15th century, the population began to increase. The growing population stimulated economic growth, accelerated the commercialisation of agriculture, increased the production and export of wool, encouraged trade and promoted the growth of London and other major towns and cities. Based on studies of
medieval manorial accounts eastern
Norfolk and areas along the north coast were among the most productive, with significant areas dedicated to the cultivation of
legumes alongside
wheat and
barley. The planting of legumes, commonly used as a
fodder crop, played a crucial role in protecting
soil fertility due to their
nitrogen fixing properties. In soils where this
intensive cropping was not feasible, such as the sandy soils of
Breckland or
Norwich, and the "Good Sands" in Norfolk's northwest, the fields were sown with
rye and barley. Agriculture grew significantly as grain prices increased sixfold by 1650. Improvements in transport, particularly along rivers and coasts, brought beef and dairy products from the north of England to London. Then in 1701,
Jethro Tull invented his famous rotating-cylinder seed drill. His 1731 book
The New Horse Hoeing Husbandry explained the systems and devices he advocated to improve agriculture. The book was so influential that it is still regarded as marking the beginning of modern agriculture.
Charles Townsend, a viscount known as "Turnip Townsend", introduced
turnip farming on a large scale in the 1730s. This created a
four-crop rotation (wheat, turnips, barley and clover) which allowed fertility to be maintained with much less fallow land. Clover increases mineral nitrogen in the soil and clover and turnips are good fodder crops for livestock, which in turn improve the soil through their manure. Between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, the population of England grew to unprecedented levels. This would not have been possible without a major expansion of arable farming. As well as feeding more people, the production of large grain surpluses supported the growth of towns and markets. Between the 16th century and the mid-19th century, Great Britain saw a further massive increase in agricultural productivity and net output known known as the
British Agricultural Revolution, which pioneered modern farming. New agricultural practices like enclosure, mechanisation, four-field
crop rotation and selective breeding enabled an unprecedented population growth, freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, and thereby helped drive the
Industrial Revolution. The 18th and 19th centuries also saw the development of glasshouses, or greenhouses, initially for the protection and cultivation of exotic plants imported to Europe and North America from the tropics. Experiments on plant
hybridisation in the late 19th century yielded advances in the understanding of plant genetics, and subsequently, the development of hybrid crops. Storage
silos and
grain elevators appeared in the 19th century. == Overview ==