Bonden, bygden och bördigheten. Produktionsmönster och utvecklingsvägar under jordbruksomvandlingen i Skåne ca 1700-1870

• The great transformation of Swedish agriculture in the 18th and 19th centuries was part of a European-wide development sharing similar characteristics. While researchers agree that extensive agro-technological, social and institutional changes took place, opinions differ with regards to the causes, spread, timing and sequence of events. Through a systematic study of agricultural production, land use and long term development in different geographical settings, this thesis contributes with new knowledge and sheds new light on one of the most important episodes of long term societal change. The aim of the thesis is to investigate how natural conditions and institutions affected the production patterns of agriculture during its transformation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Focus is set on valuing the importance of natural conditions, local traditions, cultivation techniques and property rights on the production patterns of peasant agriculture. Revising a model presented by previous research illustrating factors affecting pre-industrial agricultural practice, the study delineates to new models presenting time-dependent hypothetical relationships. The results show that agricultural practice during the 18th century was still marked by the production patterns of traditional agricultural regions, the collective nature of the open field system and the cultivation techniques and limitations of traditional agriculture. Market incentives had a weaker impact as well as local variations in natural conditions due to a lower degree of commercialisation and individualism. Entering the 19th century, the situation changed. Through enclosures the open field system was abolished. Due to the individualisation and consolidation of land, agricultural practice became more affected by local variations in natural conditions and less marked by the traditional production patterns of the agricultural regions. New cultivation techniques enabled peasants to overcome the limitations of traditional agriculture and create a bigger surplus. Meanwhile, the market had a bigger impact due to the expansion of both domestic and foreign markets and a gradual deregulation of trade. Moreover, the results show that the traditional agricultural regions (plain land, brushwood/intermediate land and woodland) differed regarding production and land use patterns as well as their paths of development during the agricultural transformation.

• Popular Abstract in Swedish Under 1700- och 1800-talet omvandlades det svenska jordbruket som en del av en euro¬peisk utveckling som uppvisar övergripande likheter. De genomgripande förändringarna och deras betydelse för den långsiktiga samhällsutvecklingen motiverar att man talar om en agrar revolution. Trots övergripande likheter rymde emellertid den agrara revolutionen såväl regio-nala som lokala variationer och tidsförskjutningar. Och när den slutligen nådde Sverige omfattade den inte bara de bördiga lerslätternas spannmålsbygder utan även de steniga och oländiga skogsbygderna samt alla tänkbara typer av blandbygder däremellan. En huvudsaklig utgångspunkt för avhandlingens undersökningar är att de naturliga förutsättningarna i grunden präglade jordbruket och därmed även jordbruksomvandlingens karaktär och förlopp. Genom en systematisk undersökning av jordbrukets produktion, markanvändning och långsiktiga ut-veckling mot bakgrund av de naturliga förutsättningarna, bidrar avhandlingen med ny kun-skap och sätter därmed en av de viktigaste episoderna i den långsiktiga samhällsutvecklingen i ny belysning.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Ekonomisk historia (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economic History (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

bygder

bönder

bördighet

jordbruksomvandling

produktionsskattningar

prästtionde

grödor

Skåne

markanvändning

tiondeforskning

traditionellt jordbruk

agrarhistoria

jordbrukshistoria

Publikations- och innehållstyp

dok (ämneskategori)

vet (ämneskategori)