field systems
A field system is when the land suitable for farming within a village contained strips of land that belonged to different people in the community or the land was shared by the people of the village as a common ground to graze there animals (Merriam- Webster). There are two major systems that played a part in the growth of English Agriculture after the Agricultural Revolution (1750-1850). These systems are the open-field system and the three -field system.
Open-field System
Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a open-field system as a community organized agricultural technique used for the last nearly 2000 years. This agricultural technique consist of three main parts. The three main aspects are the individuals themselves, rotating the crops, and common grazing grounds for the communities livestock.
Three-field System
Merriam-Webster states that this agricultural system is a more advanced form of an open field system. It consist of three fields that are rotated each season. Therefore the fields have enough time to replenish the nutrients in the soil.
Open-field System
Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a open-field system as a community organized agricultural technique used for the last nearly 2000 years. This agricultural technique consist of three main parts. The three main aspects are the individuals themselves, rotating the crops, and common grazing grounds for the communities livestock.
Three-field System
Merriam-Webster states that this agricultural system is a more advanced form of an open field system. It consist of three fields that are rotated each season. Therefore the fields have enough time to replenish the nutrients in the soil.
natural vs chemical
Bierman and Rosen tell us that fertilizers play an essential part in any type of farming operation. Most organic fertilizers contain ammonium, nitrogen, phosphate (Bierman and Rosen). However, Overton mentions that with in the last century chemical fertilizers have become more predominate than the natural fertilizers. These chemically synthesized fertilizers seem to work the best because most of them contain Nitrogen, because it is the most predominate element that help most crops grow (Bierman and Rosen; Derosa, Monreal, Schnitzer, Sultan, and Walsh). Any type of Nitrogen fertilizers have had a great effect in the increase of grain yields (e.g Alam, Hossain, Latif, Naher, Rafii, and Tajul). Chemical fertilizers are better and they are growing because organic fertilizers have many set backs for the farmers.
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SET BACKS FOR THE ORGANIC FERTILIZERS ACCORDING TO BIERMAN AND ROSEN:
- Separation from the crop land from the land that their animals use.
- Transportation cost of the organic fertilizer.
- The easy access to chemical fertilizers compared to that of organic fertilizers.
Technology
Technology has advanced greatly within the past century. These successful innovations tend to make farmers lives easier. These innovations are spread throughout the known world mainly through trade (Reenen). Technological innovation is required to create a better sustainable agriculture. There is no agricultural tool from the past to help us create a more sustainable agriculture today. This is mainly due to the fact that the tools that humans were utilizing back then are either more technologically advanced then their predecessors, like the plough or the tractor, or the tool did not meet the standards that it was meant to have and therefore it disappeared from record.
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