The Changes In Irish Agriculture Between 1800 And 1914

Agriculture in the early 19th century was Ireland’s greatest output. Between Tillage, dairy farming, Cattle farming and crop growing, it had become a large commodity. Though these years would also herald the start of the most trials and changes that Irish Agriculture would ever be put through. The outbreak of the famine and conflict that arose from the Land Wars fundamentally changed Irish agriculture and Ireland as a whole. These developments can still be felt in modern farming practices today. These changes would be brought about during agriculture’s best years.

The start of the 19th century began to show the many economic benefits of agriculture in Ireland. Farmers began to commercialise Tillage in Leinster, which led to a massive population increase. The Farm labourers (who made up ½ of the Leinster population) were given an acre of land and a small cottage by farmers. They used this land to grow potatoes. In the west of Leinster and east of Connaught farmers were rearing cattle. The climate and nutritious pastures in Ireland were perfect for feeding. These cows became a great export to USA and Britain. In Munster cows were used more for dairyfarming. These were very useful as potatoes, milk and butter became such Irish essentials. This had been a tradition from the late 17th century. Landlords rented their cows out to farmers known as ‘dairymen’. These dairy farmers were permitted to keep the calves of these cows. They were also given small plots to grow potatoes for survival and hay for cows to feed on during the winter, as the grass was no longer safe for the cows in that climate. This region became so affluent that farmers were able to subdivide there farms out to other farmers. As these plots became smaller, the population increased. These small farms began to become more crowded, which forced famers and labourers to go in search of new land. Most found themselves in the poor areas of Connaught. In these areas there was an absence of adequate soil. Farmers began coming up with workarounds to the poor earthly conditions, which included turning seaweed into fertiliser and using turf instead of coal for burning fires. As it turned out, the potato reacted very well to the seaweed, which only increased the dependency on the potato in the west, which was now heavily populated. The famine that was about to hit would affect the west in the worst possible way.

The summer of 1845 showed the first signs of blight in the potatoes. A dark fungus had appeared on the potatoes that had rendered them inedible, this blight hit half the crops. This had left the rural poor in a horrific state (especially in the west) as they relied so heavily on the potato. Though this increased suffrage the mass death had not yet begun. There were still potatoes stored from the months before. The British PM had also sent in an Indian meal to the poorest areas. In autumn of 1846 the real hardships began. The same blight had hit a lot harder and an incredibly small amount of potatoes were harvested, and now there was nothing to fall back on as the previous potato harvests had failed too. The mass starvation and death had begun. Entire villages were dying off inside their own homes. 1847 marked the worst year of the famine. Ironically this was not because of another blight, but because farmers had not planted seeds as they expected another blight or that they didn’t even have any seeds left to buy. There was another bad crop in 1848, but it slowly began to pick back up in the succeeding years. These were the worst years in Irish history. The mass death and immigration changed the face of Irish history and agriculture forever. This included some peoples’ stigma towards the British and landlords who seemed remarkably unhelpful during these times. This brought a rise in agrarian crime.

Michael Davitt, an Irish nationalist was shocked by the conditions when he returned from Britain to Mayo. He immediately began looking for help to change the face of Irish agriculture. He formed the Land League under the slogan, ‘The land of Ireland for the people of Ireland’. He looked for assistance from Charles Stewart Parnell, who was looking for Home Rule for Ireland at the time. Parnell accepted as he realised that the Irish would not be ready to stand for independence as they could barely survive without proper rights and resources as farm labourers. They fought and negotiated with the PM Gladstone for policies for tenants in Ireland such as the ‘Three Fs’ (“Fixity Of Tenure, Fair Rent and Free Sale”). To quell agrarian crime, Parnell encouraged refusing to pay rent and boycotting landlords that evicted tenants. This brought about many revolutions in the treatment of those working in agriculture. By 1903, the Parliament had created 3 Land acts, along with the Wyndham Land Act and Balfour Land Act. These significantly reduced the rent that tenants were meant to pay through and diminished a lot of the power that the landlords had over their tenants.

By 1914 Irish Agriculture had changed noticeably. While In the early 19th century it was on the rise and the population was on the rise, the famine had brought the country to its knees. At the same time, many landlords were exercising their power with much harder vitriol. These combined meant that the poor farmers were mostly on the brink of death. The efforts of the Land League had given the farmers and labourers a hand back to its original affluence. The Massive drop in the population because of the mass death and emigration meant that the lands were much less crowded. This let farmers get a larger slice of land, leading to them becoming much wealthier. While the scars of the famine remain, the changes led to a much more economically viable rural Ireland.