DOI Artikel:
Kuuse, Jan: Agriculture in interaction with mechanisation: a Swedish example 1850-1920
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49001#0073
AGRICULTURE IN INTERACTION
WITH MECHANISATION
A SWEDISH EXAMPLE 1850-1920
By
Jan Kuuse
During the 19th century a great transforma-
tion occurred in Swedish agriculture. Up to
about 1870 a large expansion in terms of
land-clearing took place. Thereafter Swedish
agriculture concentrated mainly on more in-
tensive use of the existing area under cultiva-
tion. This development led to growing food
resources for the agricultural population -
about 3 million people at the end of the 19th
century - but it also caused a polarisation
within the agricultural sector. The propor-
tion of landless people increased and within
the group of farmers a clear tendency to
division into highly mechanised large farm-
ing and less mechanised small farmers was
noticed.
In recent years a considerable amount of
research has been devoted in Sweden to agri-
cultural studies of the 19th century. Differ-
ent aspects of the agricultural manpower
situation have been studied as well as the
export side, the production trend on the
basis of agricultural statistics, and finally
changes in land values (Utterstrom 1957,
Martinius 1970, Winberg 1975, Fridlizius
1957, Svensson 1965, Adamson 1966). In
this study the diffusion of innovations in
agrarian technology from the standpoint of
the consumer (the farmer) is treated as well
as how innovations were introduced and
spread in Swedish agriculture in the period
1860-1910, together with a close look at the
effects of agricultural mechanisation from
the producer’s standpoint 1830-1930. These
elements I have dealt with in previous
studies (see Kuuse, 2, 1970 and 2, 1974).
Studies of this type are closely associated
with discussions concerning the distribution
in time and space of the overall information.
It is a question of how technical and social
innovations were introduced, accepted, and
assimilated. Another aspect of the subject is
that of the industrial marketing. To what
extent was the agricultural sector, through
its size and purchasing power, an important
buyer of the products manufactured by the
Swedish engineering industry? The mechan-
isation of farming and the orders placed
would therefore provide a subject of con-
siderable interest.
The increase in numbers of agricultural
implements and machines can be regarded as
a measure for the agricultural commercial-
isation, which was one of the prerequisites
of the industrialisation of the country. The
spread is here studied with reference to farm
size during a few selected years: i860, 1890
and 1910. The regions investigated are: a
typical woodland area (G-county), a region
comprising mainly plains and cultivated land
(M-county), and an area of woods as well as
cultivated land (C-county) (see fig. 1).
Particular attention is focused on the so-
cial and size determined stratification in-
volved in the distribution process. Concrete
data are obtained from general agricultural
WITH MECHANISATION
A SWEDISH EXAMPLE 1850-1920
By
Jan Kuuse
During the 19th century a great transforma-
tion occurred in Swedish agriculture. Up to
about 1870 a large expansion in terms of
land-clearing took place. Thereafter Swedish
agriculture concentrated mainly on more in-
tensive use of the existing area under cultiva-
tion. This development led to growing food
resources for the agricultural population -
about 3 million people at the end of the 19th
century - but it also caused a polarisation
within the agricultural sector. The propor-
tion of landless people increased and within
the group of farmers a clear tendency to
division into highly mechanised large farm-
ing and less mechanised small farmers was
noticed.
In recent years a considerable amount of
research has been devoted in Sweden to agri-
cultural studies of the 19th century. Differ-
ent aspects of the agricultural manpower
situation have been studied as well as the
export side, the production trend on the
basis of agricultural statistics, and finally
changes in land values (Utterstrom 1957,
Martinius 1970, Winberg 1975, Fridlizius
1957, Svensson 1965, Adamson 1966). In
this study the diffusion of innovations in
agrarian technology from the standpoint of
the consumer (the farmer) is treated as well
as how innovations were introduced and
spread in Swedish agriculture in the period
1860-1910, together with a close look at the
effects of agricultural mechanisation from
the producer’s standpoint 1830-1930. These
elements I have dealt with in previous
studies (see Kuuse, 2, 1970 and 2, 1974).
Studies of this type are closely associated
with discussions concerning the distribution
in time and space of the overall information.
It is a question of how technical and social
innovations were introduced, accepted, and
assimilated. Another aspect of the subject is
that of the industrial marketing. To what
extent was the agricultural sector, through
its size and purchasing power, an important
buyer of the products manufactured by the
Swedish engineering industry? The mechan-
isation of farming and the orders placed
would therefore provide a subject of con-
siderable interest.
The increase in numbers of agricultural
implements and machines can be regarded as
a measure for the agricultural commercial-
isation, which was one of the prerequisites
of the industrialisation of the country. The
spread is here studied with reference to farm
size during a few selected years: i860, 1890
and 1910. The regions investigated are: a
typical woodland area (G-county), a region
comprising mainly plains and cultivated land
(M-county), and an area of woods as well as
cultivated land (C-county) (see fig. 1).
Particular attention is focused on the so-
cial and size determined stratification in-
volved in the distribution process. Concrete
data are obtained from general agricultural