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- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland abstract "The history of agriculture in Scotland includes all forms of farm production in the modern boundaries of Scotland, from the prehistoric era to the present day. Scotland has between a fifth and a sixth of the amount of the arable or good pastoral land of England and Wales, mostly located in the south and east. Heavy rainfall encouraged the spread of acidic blanket peat bog, which with wind and salt spray, made most of the western islands treeless. The existence of hills, mountains, quicksands and marshes made internal communication and agriculture difficult. Mesolithic encampments formed the first known settlements in Scotland from around 8500 BCE. These indicate a highly mobile boat-using people making tools from bone, stone and antlers. In the Neolithic period, from around 6,000 years ago, there is evidence of permanent settlements and farming. Archaeological evidence indicates that the two main sources of food were grain and cow's milk. From the beginning of the Bronze Age, about 2000 BCE, arable land spread at the expense of forest. From the Iron Age, beginning in the seventh century BCE, hill forts in southern Scotland are associated with cultivation ridges and terraces. Souterrains, small underground constructions, may have been for storing perishable agricultural products. Ariel photography reveals extensive prehistoric field systems that underlie existing boundaries in some Lowland areas, suggesting that the fertile plains were already densely exploited for agriculture. During the period of Roman occupation there was re-growth of birch, oak and hazel indicating a reduction in agriculture.The early Middle Ages were a period of climate deterioration resulting in more unproductive land. Most farms had to produce a self-sufficient diet, supplemented by hunter-gathering. They ware based around a single homestead or a small cluster of homes, each probably containing a nuclear family. More oats and barley were grown than corn and cattle were the most important domesticated animal. From c. 1150 to 1300, warm dry summers and less severe winters allowed cultivation at greater heights and made land more productive. The system of infield and outfield agriculture may have been introduced with feudalism from the twelfth century. Crops were bere, oats, wheat, rye and legumes. By the late Medieval period, most farming was based on the Lowland fermtoun or Highland baile, settlements of a handful of families that jointly farmed an area notionally suitable for two or three plough teams, were allocated to tenant farmers, known as husbandmen. Runrigs usually ran downhill so that they included both wet and dry land. Most ploughing was done with a heavy wooden plough with an iron coulter, pulled by oxen. Key crops included kale, hemp and flax. Sheep and goats were probably the main sources of milk, while cattle were raised for meat. The rural economy boomed in the thirteenth century and in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death was still buoyant, but by the 1360s there was a severe falling off in incomes to be followed by a slow recovery in the fifteenth century.As feudal distinctions declined in the early modern era, the barons and tenants-in-chief merged to form a new identifiable group, the lairds. With the yeomen, these heritors were the major landholding orders. Others with property rights included husbandmen and free tenants. Many young people left home to become domestic and agricultural servants. The early modern era also saw the impact of the Little Ice Age, which peaked towards the end of the seventeenth century. Almost half the years in the second half of the sixteenth century seeing local or national scarcity, necessitating the shipping of large quantities of grain from the Baltic. In the early seventeenth century famine was relatively common. The English invasions of the 1640s had a profound impact on the Scottish economy. Under the Commonwealth, the country was relatively highly taxed, but gained access to English markets. After the Restoration customs duties with England were re-established. Economic conditions were generally favourable, as land owners promoted better tillage and cattle-raising. The closing decade of the seventeenth century saw a slump, followed by four years of failed harvests, in what is known as the "seven ill years", but these shortages would be the last of their kind. After the Union of 1707 there was a conscious attempt to improve agriculture among the gentry and nobility. Introductions included haymaking, the English plough, foreign grasses, rye grass and clover, turnips and cabbages. Lands were enclosed, displacing the run rig system and free pasture. Marshes were drained, lime was put down, roads built, woods planted, drilling and sowing and crop rotation were introduced. The introduction of the potato to Scotland in 1739 greatly improved the diet of the peasantry. The resulting Lowland Clearances saw hundreds of thousands of cottars and tenant farmers from central and southern Scotland were forcibly removed. The later Highland Clearances saw the forced displacement much of the population of the Highland as lands were enclosed for sheep farming. Those that remained many were now crofters, living on very small rented farms with indefinite tenure used to raise various crops and animals, dependent on kelping, fishing, spinning of linen and military service. Scotland suffered its last major subsistence crisis when the potato blight reached the Highlands in 1846.In the twentieth century Scottish agriculture became susceptible to world markets. There were dramatic price rises in the First World War, but a slump in the 1920s and 1930s, followed by more rises in World War II. In 1947 annual price reviews were introduced in an attempt to stabilise the market. There was a drive in UK agriculture to greater production until the late 1970s, resulting in intensive farming. There was increasing mechanisation and farming became less labour-intensive. UK membership of the European Economic Community from 1972 began a change in orientation for Scottish farming. Some sectors became viable only with subsidies. A series of reforms to the CAP from the 1990s attempted to control over-production, limit incentives for intensive farming and mitigate environmental damage. A dual farm structure has emerged with agriculture divided between large commercial farms and small pluralised and diversified holdings.".
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland thumbnail A_barley_field_at_Brotherstone_Hill_South_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1374988.jpg?width=300.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland wikiPageID "39910597".
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland wikiPageRevisionID "599772216".
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland subject Category:Agriculture_in_Scotland.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland subject Category:Economic_history_of_Scotland.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland subject Category:History_of_Scotland.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland subject Category:History_of_agriculture_by_country.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland comment "The history of agriculture in Scotland includes all forms of farm production in the modern boundaries of Scotland, from the prehistoric era to the present day. Scotland has between a fifth and a sixth of the amount of the arable or good pastoral land of England and Wales, mostly located in the south and east. Heavy rainfall encouraged the spread of acidic blanket peat bog, which with wind and salt spray, made most of the western islands treeless.".
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland label "History of agriculture in Scotland".
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland sameAs Q16149423.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland sameAs Q16149423.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland wasDerivedFrom History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland?oldid=599772216.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland depiction A_barley_field_at_Brotherstone_Hill_South_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1374988.jpg.
- History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland isPrimaryTopicOf History_of_agriculture_in_Scotland.