Roots of Agriculture Technology Development

Such innovation is exemplified by farmers in Northern Europe who confronted particular difficulties caused by the climate. Low temperatures meant slow decomposition of organic material, and the short growing season meant a limited production of organic material to be decomposed. Both factors resulted in slow recuperation of the soil's natural fertility after exploitation. The short growing season also meant that farmers had to produce enough for the entire year in less than a year. Farmers therefore developed systems in which cattle and other livestock played a pivotal role as manure producers for fertilizer. Changes in the feed crop could allow an increase in livestock, which produced more manure to be used for fertilizing the arable land, resulting in higher yields. Through the ages, farmers in Northern Europe intensified this cycle. From about the 1820s the purchase of external supplies increased the productivity of farming in the temperate zones. Technological improvements made increases in productivity not only possible but also attractive, as nearby markets grew and distant markets came within reach as a result of the nineteenth century transportation revolution. An important development at mid-nineteenth century was the growing interest in applying science to agricultural development.

The two disciplines with the largest impact were chemistry and biology. The name attached to agricultural chemistry is Justus von Liebig, a German chemist who in the 1840s formulated a theory on the processes underlying soil fertility and plant growth. He propagated his organic chemistry as the key to the application of the right type and amount of fertilizer. Liebig launched his ideas at a time when farmers were organizing themselves based on a common interest in cheap supplies. The synergy of these developments resulted in the creation of many laboratories for experimentation with these products, primarily fertilizers. During the second half of the nineteenth century, agricultural experiment stations were opened all over Europe and North America.

Sometime later, experimental biology became entangled with agriculture. Inspired by the ideas of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, biologists became interested in the reproduction and growth of agricultural crops and animals. Botany and, to a lesser extent, zoology became important disciplines at the experimental stations or provided reasons to create new research laboratories. Research into the reproductive systems of different species, investigating patterns of inheritance and growth of plant and animal species, and experimentation in cross-breeding and selection by farmers and scientists together lay the foundations of genetic modification techniques in the twentieth century.

By the turn of the century, about 600 agricultural experiment stations were spread around the Western world, often operating in conjunction with universities or agricultural schools. Moreover, technologies that were not specifically developed for agriculture and food had a clear impact on the sector. Large ocean-going steamships, telegraphy, railways, and refrigeration, reduced time and increased loads between farms and markets. Key trade routes brought supplies of grain and other products to Europe from North America and the British dominions, resulting in a severe economic crisis in the 1880s for European agriculture. Heat and power from steam engines industrialized food production by taking over farm activities like cheese making or by expanding and intensifying existing industrial production such as sugar extraction. The development of synthetic dyes made crop-based colorants redundant, strongly reducing or even eliminating cultivation of the herb madder or indigo plants. These developments formed the basis of major technological changes in agriculture and food through the twentieth century.