The Real Agricultural Revolution

WINNER of the British Agricultural History Society's 2022 Thirsk Prize WINNER of the 2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award An investigation into farming practices throughout a period of seismic change.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 British agriculture was largely powered by the muscles of men, women, and horses, and used mostly nineteenth-century technology to produce less than half of the country's temperate food. By 1985, less land and far fewer people were involved in farming, the power sources and technologies had been completely transformed, and the output of the country's agriculture had more than doubled. This is the story of the national farm, reflecting the efforts and experiences of 200,000 or so farmers and their families, together with the people they employed. But it is not the story of any individual one of them. We know too little about change at the individual farm level, although what happened varied considerably between farms and between different technologies.0 Based on an improbably-surviving archive of Farm Management Survey accounts, supported by oral histories from some of the farmers involved, this book explores the links between the production of new technologies, their transmission through knowledge networks, and their reception on individual farms. It contests the idea that rapid adoption of technology was inevitable, and reveals the unevenness, variability and complexity that lay beneath the smooth surface of the official statistics.0WINNER of the British Agricultural History Society's 2022 Thirsk Prize.

An investigation into farming practices throughout a period of seismic change. WINNER of the British Agricultural History Society's 2022 Thirsk Prize WINNER of the 2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award "This meticulously researched book gives a detailed and authoritative history of agricultural change in the second half of the twentieth century. The book skilfully weaves together the hitherto underexplored individual returns of the Farm Management Survey with oral histories of the farmers who enacted change on the ground to offer an incisive account of the complex technological, political and cultural developments which gave rise to some of the greatest changes in English farming history. It will stand as the key reference point for those with an interest in the history of agricultural change in Britain." Professor Mark Riley, University of Liverpool At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 British agriculture was largely powered by the muscles of men, women, and horses, and used mostly nineteenth-century technology to produce less than half of the country's temperate food. By 1985, less land and far fewer people were involved in farming, the power sources and technologies had been completely transformed, and the output of the country's agriculture had more than doubled. This is the story of the national farm, reflecting the efforts and experiences of 200,000 or so farmers and their families, together with the people they employed. But it is not the story of any individual one of them. We know too little about change at the individual farm level, although what happened varied considerably between farms and between different technologies. Based on an improbably-surviving archive of Farm Management Survey accounts, supported by oral histories from some of the farmers involved, this book explores the links between the production of new technologies, their transmission through knowledge networks, and their reception on individual farms. It contests the idea that rapid adoption of technology was inevitable, and reveals the unevenness, variability and complexity that lay beneath the smooth surface of the official statistics.

THE DIGITAL AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION The book integrates computational intelligence, applied artificial intelligence, and modern agricultural practices and will appeal to scientists, agriculturists, and those in plant and crop science management. There is a need for synergy between the application of modern scientific innovation in the area of artificial intelligence and agriculture, considering the major challenges from climate change consequences viz. rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, the emergence of new crop pests, drought, flood, etc. This volume reports on high-quality research (theory and practice including prototype & conceptualization of ideas, frameworks, real-world applications, policy, standards, psychological concerns, case studies, and critical surveys) on recent advances toward the realization of the digital agriculture revolution as a result of the convergence of different disruptive technologies. The book touches upon the following topics which have contributed to revolutionizing agricultural practices. Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture (AI models and architectures, system design, real-world applications of AI, machine learning and deep learning in the agriculture domain, integration & coordination of systems and issues & challenges). IoT and Big Data Analytics Applications in Agriculture (theory & architecture and the use of various types of sensors in optimizing agriculture resources and final product, benefits in real-time for crop acreage estimation, monitoring & control of agricultural produce). Robotics & Automation in Agriculture Systems (Automation challenges, need and recent developments and real case studies). Intelligent and Innovative Smart Agriculture Applications (use of hybrid intelligence in better crop health and management). Privacy, Security, and Trust in Digital Agriculture (government framework & policy papers). Open Problems, Challenges, and Future Trends. Audience Researchers in computer science, artificial intelligence, electronics engineering, agriculture automation, crop management, and science.

Contrary to those who regard the economic transformation of the West as a gradual process spanning centuries, Peter D. McClelland claims the initial transformation of American agriculture was an unmistakable revolution. He asks when a single crucial question was first directed persistently, pervasively, and systematically to farming practices: Is there a better way? McClelland surveys practices from crop rotation to livestock breeding, with a particular focus on the change in implements used to produce small grains. With wit and verve and an abundance of detail, he demonstrates that the first great surge in inventive activity in agronomy in the United States took place following the War of 1812, much of it in a fifteen-year period ending in 1830. Once questioning the status quo became the norm for producers on and off the farm, according to McClelland, the march to modernization was virtually assured. With the aid of more than 270 illustrations, many of them taken from contemporary sources, McClelland describes this stunning transformation in a manner rarely found in the agricultural literature. How primitive farming implements worked, what their defects were, and how they were initially redesigned are explained in a manner intelligible to the novice and yet offering analysis and information of special interest to the expert.

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.