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Wed 24 March
    8:30
    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Thu 25 March
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    10:45
    14:15
    16:30

Fri 26 March
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    10:45
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    16.30

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    10:45
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Wednesday 24 March 2004 8:30
Q-1 RUR08 Agricultural technology
Room R
Network: Rural Chair: Janken Myrdal
Organizers: - Discussant: Janken Myrdal
Carl-Johan Gadd : Land reclamation 1700-1900 and changes in agricultural technology. The case of Sweden
Sweden (like Norway and Finland) experienced extensive land reclamation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Unlike in most of Europe the cultivated area per capita increased in Sweden. Why had the soil now reclaimed not been cultivated before? One inhibiting factor had been the short seasons of cultivation reducing the ... (Show more)
Sweden (like Norway and Finland) experienced extensive land reclamation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Unlike in most of Europe the cultivated area per capita increased in Sweden. Why had the soil now reclaimed not been cultivated before? One inhibiting factor had been the short seasons of cultivation reducing the areas that could be cultivated per labourer. Contributing to this was the large number of draught animals necessary per cultivated area, as each animal could be used for tilling a comparatively small acreage. In fact the largeness of the areas needed for grazing and meadow put a limit to the area that could be converted into arable. The iron implements spreading gradually in the 18th century and more rapidly from the early 19th had a particularly large effect in the Nordic countries as they reduced the number of draught animals and made possible an increase in the cultivated area per labourer. While in the early 18th century the large rural population divided their time between short seasons of agricultural work and other activities, the late 19th century rural economy was much more agrarian than 200 years earlier.

This article intends to summarize articles previously published in Swedish. (Show less)

Per Hallén : Farmers and the domestic iron market
The Swedish case 1750-1870 in a European context – results from the thesis “Age of iron. The use and consumption of iron and iron products in rural Sweden 1750-1870.”


During the agrarian revolution farmers and the rural population in general started to buy more iron products and more iron consuming ... (Show more)
The Swedish case 1750-1870 in a European context – results from the thesis “Age of iron. The use and consumption of iron and iron products in rural Sweden 1750-1870.”


During the agrarian revolution farmers and the rural population in general started to buy more iron products and more iron consuming tools then before. It has been claimed that the agricultural sector was the fastest growing market for iron products in the 16th and 17th centuries. (Bairoch, 1973).
In my paper the total domestic market for iron in Sweden will presented and the agricultural sectors share of that market will be calculated. This is the first time such a test of the hypothesis has been made.
Iron tools had a large impact on the effectiveness of farming. Some room in the paper will therefore be taken on the subject of agrarian technology.

The main theme in the paper will be farmers as consumers of iron/iron products during time of falling relative iron prize. I will use iron as an example to show the transition of the agrarian community towards a more market orientated economy. This discussion will be in the lines of Jan de Vries and the Z-goods model showing the path towards increasing specializing. (Show less)

Lanero Táboas : Technicians, trade unionists and politicians: who were directors of agrarian policy in fascist regimes?
This paper tries to show the role played by technicians within the agrarian administration in the planning and implementation of agrarian policies under fascist (nazi Germany; fascist Italy) and fascistized regimes (such as Francoist Spain, Vichy France or Salazarist Portugal). We're interested in their relationship with politicians in relation to ... (Show more)
This paper tries to show the role played by technicians within the agrarian administration in the planning and implementation of agrarian policies under fascist (nazi Germany; fascist Italy) and fascistized regimes (such as Francoist Spain, Vichy France or Salazarist Portugal). We're interested in their relationship with politicians in relation to the decision - making process. Starting from the case of Spain under Franco we expect to make a study on the implementation of agrarian policies on the local level. We'll pay atention as well to the conflicts within different groups of agrarian experts (veterinarians, agronomists ...) and between technicians and leaders of the State - led trade unions within a corporatist framework. We hope not to forget the mutual influences (between this Kind of regimes) in the design of this Kind of policies. (Show less)



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