1. Agricultural Revolution

2. While the world revolts…
While the French and others were rebelling, the English who had already experienced The English Revolution, were already experiencing urban growth and industrialization due to their Agricultural Revolution.
So What?
Better farming methods = less need for farmers

3. Improved agricultural methods caused:
1. increased crop yield 2. increased food supplies 3. food surplus (an abundance of food)

4. NEW IDEAS AND PRACTICES
E.Q. What changes in farming methods created the Agricultural Revolution?
NEW IDEAS AND PRACTICES
Enclosing of open fields- lands closed off by fences and sectioned for private farming
Crop rotation
Selective breeding - breeding farm animals for increased production (stronger, tougher workers) and better quality of beef, milk, wool, etc. (things that can be used, sold, traded)

5. Inventions and Cultivation
Reapers – cut grain and eventually bound it into bundles
The first reapers cut the standing grain and, with a revolving reel, swept it onto a platform from which it was raked off into piles by a man walking alongside.
The next innovation, patented in 1858, was a self-raking reaper with an endless canvas belt that delivered the cut grain to two men who riding on the end of the platform, bundled it.
Cyrus McCormick had moved to Chicago, built a reaper factory, and founded what eventually became the International Harvester Company. In 1872 he produced a reaper which automatically bound the bundles with wire.

6. More on the Reaper
Check out this exciting video on McCormick’s reaper!

7. Inventions and Cultivation
Plowing, seeding, reaping were all revolutionized
Chemical fertilizers allowed even more productivity
These improvements maximized the productivity of the land and created a surplus of food

8. E.Q. How did the Agricultural Revolution create an increase in industrialization?
Higher crop yields = fewer farmers needed- available workforce for factories
Successful farming enabled wealthy land owners to invest $$ into new businesses
Push factor- former farmers moved to cities in search of jobs- urbanization
Food surplus = healthy people live longer which increased the workforce