[lbo-talk] agricultural productivity

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Mon Apr 19 14:06:28 PDT 2010


Sean Andrews says, somewhat surprisingly:

'there were farmers in pre-capitalist England who were using fertilizer, saving the most productive seeds, cross breeding, etc. all of the so-called "innovations" of capitalist agriculture aside from breaking up small parcels of land and enclosing the commons were largely developed by feudal individuals simply trying hard to live on the land.'

Was there the Haber-Bosch process for fixing nitrogen in synthetic fertilisers in the feudal era? Were there internal combustion engine-powered tractors in feudal England? Did they grow strawberries in CO2 tents in winter? Did they freeze peas?



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