[lbo-talk] agricultural productivity

[Sean Andrews]

On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 16:06, James Heartfield
<Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> 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?

sorry for being sloppy, James.  I mean the innovations of agricultural
improvement movement in the 17th and 18th century (i.e. early
capitalist agriculture), most of which were simply appropriated from
the surrounding farmers by doing a careful study of best practices.
They were also very big on "manurance" so much so that it became a
metaphor for all kinds of culture, not just agriculture.

s