Land Reform Question Thread

[Shtudmuffin]

So, this thread is for questions on land reform/agrarian reform in the 19th century and how it works. I'll probably be asking most of the questions, but oh well. I shall start us off with this:

-What is the optimal farm size for agricultural productivity?

 

[Falecius]

So, this thread is for questions on land reform/agrarian reform in the 19th century and how it works. I'll probably be asking most of the questions, but oh well. I shall start us off with this:

-What is the optimal farm size for agricultural productivity?

Depends on what you are producing, on which soil, under which local climate, with how much labor and tech available, and where and how you are selling your products.

 

[Shtudmuffin]

Depends on what you are producing, on which soil, under which local climate, with how much labor and tech available, and where and how you are selling your products.

Let's assume it's on decent quality soil, growing wheat/corn (whatever the standard European crop of this time was), with standard Western European climate and I don't know about the labor and other stuff.

To be more specific, 19th century Spain.

 

[Falecius]

Let's assume it's on decent quality soil, growing wheat/corn (whatever the standard European crop of this time was), with standard Western European climate and I don't know about the labor and other stuff.

To be more specific, 19th century Spain.

And the goal is to maximize total wheat output I suppose? Or better said, total foodstuff output (since with wheat, you have to rotate since it impoverishes the soil).
Are measuring productivity in monetary terms or edible calories output?

(My guesstimate is that somewhere in the 30ish hectares might work rather nicely in these conditions, but I'm willing to stand corrected).

 

[Shtudmuffin]

And the goal is to maximize total wheat output I suppose? Or better said, total foodstuff output (since with wheat, you have to rotate since it impoverishes the soil).
Are measuring productivity in monetary terms or edible calories output?

(My guesstimate is that somewhere in the 30ish hectares might work rather nicely in these conditions, but I'm willing to stand corrected).

We're measuring output in the amount of consumable calories.

And what kind of reforms, short of forced land redistribution, would be necessary to encourage the dismemberment of the latifundios into these smaller and more productive farms?

 

[Thoresby]

Let's assume it's on decent quality soil, growing wheat/corn (whatever the standard European crop of this time was), with standard Western European climate and I don't know about the labor and other stuff.

To be more specific, 19th century Spain.

Looking at Spain anywhere between 30 acres and 250 acres is sufficient, an arid hill sheep farm in Central Spain is obviously going to be on a very different scale from well irrigated land in Catalonia. Agriculture is so dependent on geography, climate and soil type that it's impossible to give a single number for anywhere.