Why did British agriculture decline after 1870?

        The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 brought about fears that the British market would be subjected to endless supplies of cheap foreign grain.  This too has been put forward as a factor contributing to degeneration of British farming.  The foreign farmers, whilst falling victim of higher labour costs, enjoyed cheaper land rental than their British counterparts.  As well as this the land was more often than not extremely fertile, as it had not yet had crops grown on it. These are two key reasons why foreign produce could be sold at a price far less than that of home grown goods.  But if the Corn Laws were repealed in 1846 why were the effects of this cheaper foreign produce not felt immediately?  There are two main reasons why farming in Britain remained prosperous for another twenty-five years after the repeal.  

Firstly, there were a number of conflicts going on in the world that served to protect the British market from the influx of foreign produce.  The Crimean War, from 1854-6, and the American Civil War, 1861-4, prevented the import of grain from the two countries that were becoming the largest producers of grain in the world at this time.  Furthermore, the Franco-Prussian War 1870-1 ensured that demand from France remained high, consequently the price of grain in Britain stayed elevated.  Even once these encounters had ceased the British market remained protected by the vast distance over which any produce would have to travel.  This is the second reason why British agriculture remained profitable despite being open to foreign competition.  However, developments in technology were taking place that would bring this land closer to the British markets.  The advent of the steam ship had a considerable role to play in this.  In 1882 it cost 1p per lb to ship mutton from New Zealand to Britain whereas by 1889 this had fallen to 0.2p.  Likewise it to move a quarter of wheat from Chicago to Liverpool cost 80p in the late 1860s but only 20p by the turn of the century.  This fall accounts for half the fall in wheat prices in Britain during this period.  In the same way that the bad weather had prevented the farmers from realising early enough that something needed to be done the combination of distance and conflict, rather than protecting the British agriculture as it would seem, actually caused it to decline once the full effects could be felt.

These factors served to shield British agriculture from the full impact of foreign competition.  One solution to the problem of cheap imports goods was to specialise produce.  Luxury foods such as high-grade beef, lamb, butter eggs and bacon all continued to rise in price.  These products continued to command a high price as they could not be shipped in from abroad and the British goods were of a higher standard than anything imported from abroad.  Furthermore, the increasing disposable income available to the population of Britain, due to the industrialisation it was experiencing at this time, meant that demand for such high-end foodstuffs was also increasing.  However, for the reasons cited above many farmers were not aware that such change was needed until it was too late.  Many Landowners were unwilling to allow a movement away from procedures that had raised fertility, profits and rents in previous decades.  Indeed many refused to permit such changes until their tenants were bankrupt or had ended their lease on the land.  Only then were the landowners forced to allow changes and, as well as this, they were forced to accept lower rents as they were unable to find tenants at the high rents that the landlords had previously enjoyed.  This unwillingness to be flexible and a failure to recognise that a new era was dawning for British agriculture undeniably lead to its decline.

This new era was one in which Britain relied heavily on foreign imports for its basic food supplies.   In the case of wheat over half of Britain’s requirements were imported.  This was down to the certainty of Britain’s political and naval power which allowed a dependence on foreign produce to be taken for granted and helped create the conditions suitable for the decline in agriculture.  One of the strong indicators of this is the fact that by the late 1890s agriculture accounted for six per cent of the gross national product when forty years earlier this figure had been twenty per cent.  Likewise in 1851 over one-fifth of the population were employed in the agricultural sector but by 1901 this had fallen to one-tenth.  The Gangs Act of 1867 and the Education Acts after 1870 had further detrimental effects on British agriculture.  By restricting the employment of children and removing them from the fields and placing them in classrooms the demand for labour was increased even more.  Furthermore, adult workers demanded higher wages than children thus the wages, already high due to urban migration, were even higher.  This placed further strain on the already struggling farmers.

This decreasing share in Britain’s workforce shows clearly that Britain’s economy was changing.  It was moving away from a rural agricultural society towards an urban manufacturing one.  Expanding towns along with a vacation of the countryside are characteristic of this change.  In this new era it was industry, in particular the export of manufactured goods, rather than a strong agriculture, as had been the case a hundred years earlier, that was the foundation of Britain’s wealth.  A reliance on low cost imports to sufficiently feed the urban population was necessary for this change to take place.  The diminishing importance of agriculture in Britain’s economy is a feature of how advanced it was.  It was able to focus its workforce on the production of expensive industrial goods, something which no other nation had yet achieved.  The fact that a nation could be fed almost exclusively by imports from abroad was a novel concept and one that allowed Britain’s economy to move forwards.  

        In conclusion, there were a number of factors which can be argued as individual causes of the decline of British agriculture after 1870.  What ultimately caused this decline was the combination of global circumstances protecting British markets long after legislation had opened them up and the British economy moving away from a system based on agriculture.  It is important to remember that agriculture did not decline in all sectors.  The export of livestock was one which thrived in the new economy: Cattle exports increased tenfold between 1875 and 1895.  It was important that the British farmers could recognise, and take advantage of, a shift in the demands for agricultural produce both in domestic and foreign markets.  This change was away from the comparatively cheap cereal crops towards the more expensive livestock.  The decline of agriculture came because they were initially unable to see this change take place and by the time they had were mostly in a position from which they were unable to do anything about it.  The era of mixed self sufficient farming was over, the fact that so many farmers stuck by this method long after it had become obsolete is why agriculture can be seen declining.  As far as they were aware there was no reason not too; this method of farming had turned over huge profits in the preceding period.  As the British markets were not yet flooded with cheap foreign imports it seemed as if this would continue.  It is unfortunate that the period directly leading up to the actual opening of British markets, some 30 years after the repeal of the Corn Laws, was one of hardship.  This was caused by bad harvests and a diminishing livestock population and meant that the agricultural industry did not have sufficient capital to invest in the changes it needed to make in order to continue its status as the most advanced agricultural industry in the world.  Due to the changes that were going on in the rest of the economy it did suffer badly because of this and the British economy continued to go from strength to strength.

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