Agriculture made human communities dependent on relatively few plants; the main crops which they grew rather than on the many different kinds of plants which hunter-gathers used. (Burt) To survive, agriculturalists had to gather all their food for the year at one or two or three harvest times, rather than gathering year round. Agriculture brought class divisions because farming introduced the concept of land ownership and thereby, there was a division among labor and owner, and on the one hand, it caused the elite became wealthier, but on the other hand, most people became poorer. In hunting and gathering society,
Stalin achieved most of his aims; Grain production rose to nearly 100 million tonnes in 1937, although the numbers of animals never recovered. Russia sold large quantities of grain to other countries; this of course made a huge difference to the economy in Russia. A colossal 17 million people left the countryside to go to work in the towns this was part of industrialisation which helped to improve the economy. The kulaks were eliminated, this was one Stalin’s main aims and finally, the peasants were closely under the government's control, which pleased Stalin greatly. There were many failures in collectivisation, particularly in the initial phases - output fell in the 1930s largely for three reasons; the peasants resented the state taking their land, machinery and livestock, so they did not work as hard and put more effort into their private plots, where they could keep any profit generated - who wouldn't?
This money was important because the economy in Russia was poor at the time; bearing in mind there was a huge number of peasants and very few working class people at the time may suggest a reason for this. Russia's biggest produce was grain. This was the most important factor in my opinion, as without this money, Witte wouldn't have been able to implement any of his ideas. The second area was state sponsored development of heavy industry. Witte believed that heavy industry was the way forward, because he thought that light industry and agriculture could both benefit from this boost.
The Homestead Act was one such thing. This act gave every person who wanted it the opportunity to take free land. However, the government gave more plots of land to important people that they did to ordinary people. Also, land speculators snatched up big portions of land and held on to them so that they could sell them for profit at a later time. This left the ordinary people with much less land to live on and much less opportunity.
The Great Famine was caused by the failure of a potato crop, however this impacted various different things, including starvation, disease and death on a huge scale throughout Ireland. The population rise meant that division and sub-division had accelerated even more rapidly than before, this meant that there was a huge increase in ‘landless’ labourers who worked when they could but often struggled to find it due to the amount of small farms only just being able to provide enough produce to keep their families alive. Irish labourers were also given small scraps of land instead of a wages and this meant that they were practically cotters; in turn this meant another huge portion of Irelands population was reliant on the potato. Between the period of 1780 and 1845 Irelands population had increased massively due to the prosperity and early marriage throughout Ireland during this time. An upsurge in population meant that competition of land was high and possession of a plot of land had become ‘life and death’.
It is accurate to an extent to say that the most important result of the collectivisation of agriculture was that it imposed communist control on the countryside because generally this was the case; private land ownership was banned and peasants were paid an annual wage- splitting up the collective of the profits of the year, however only to an extent because it didn’t impose complete communist control as peasants in a Kolkhoz, for example, were still able to keep a private plot of land, showing not complete communism. And there were also other results of collectivisation such as the increase in migration to cities and increase of grain procurement, which were almost more important than the imposed communist control on the countryside. Collectivisation of agriculture did impose communist control on the countryside because it meant that all farming in the countryside was equal as all private land ownership was banned and so peasants could no longer sell their own goods in market. Instead collective farms were set up under the Kolkhoz or the Sovkhoz system, by 1941 98% of land was collectivised. But this wasn’t complete communist control because the peasants of the Kolkhoz were stilled allowed to keep a private plot of land.
"The occupation of framers is to coltivate the soil, to feed the animals, and to get wood and convate it to the city." (More 7 96) Another simalarity is the use of the trade. This way the people have a small part of economy they trade for thier wants and needs satisfying eachother with their crops or other goods. "Provide that no one sit idol, but that each apply himself indestrully to his trade" ( More 7 98) Another example of a simalarity is the usage of the same clothes throughout the whole country this way no one is better than anyone else, this way everyone feels rich and doesnt have to compete to reach someone elses finacial level. "In Utopia there is no poor man and no begger" (More 800) "As of for clothes there are of one and the same pattern through the island and down the centruys and between the single and married".
As both societies began to increase agriculture, larger communities emerged as a result of successful economies. Mesopotamia focused on the city life with centers of political, military authority, and busy market places, while Egypt developed small-scale states with cultural capitals. As food became less of a priority, both civilizations were able to specialize in other types of work such as pottery, textiles, woodworking, leather production, stone cutting and masonry. Egypt and Mesopotamia were now creating complex lifestyles. As wealth soon differed between members of society, people began treating others unequally.
Since there is no need for most people to hunt, and given that permanent settlement will contribute to stored food, then most people will devote their lives to other pursuits other than farming, such as artisan and warriors, craftsman, kings, etc. This advantage was first identified in Eurasia while most of the New World still heavily relied on the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. This lifestyle forces everyone to hunt for their own food and the time to
By creating more small scale farms, external costs, such as health care and environment impacts, will decrease. Plus, jobs, such as butchers, will be created. The problem is we have expanded our food system around the world. Driving our industrial agricultural system is capitalism. The obsession with maximum profit has shaped how we produce, distribute, and consume food (Ritzer 1983, 372).