Where There's Muck, There's Brass: The Market for Manure in the Industrial Revolution

Abstract

This article presents the first systematic analysis of off-farm sources of nitrogen, such as urban and industrial waste, used in English agriculture during the industrial revolution, arguing that their use was widespread and intensive by 1700 and that there was only modest growth in their use up to 1840. It explains the pattern of use by supply and demand factors, and develops a new method to estimate the overall impact on wheat yields. It estimates that throughout the period 1700-1840 yields were 20 per cent higher than they would have been if no off-farm manures had been used.