5 - ‘Promoting and Accelerating the Progress of Agriculture’: A Case Study of Agricultural Societies in the Doncaster District, South Yorkshire, England

Summary

The generation, communication and acquisition of agricultural knowledge were important during the mid-nineteenth century. ‘High farming’ – the pursuit of more efficient, productive and profitable agriculture as characterized by capital-intensive practices and innovation – promoted the advancement of agricultural knowledge. A growing awareness that knowledge, ability and skill were as crucial as capital in successfully implementing new practices, underpinned advancements in agriculture. Agricultural societies were therefore significant conduits in the creation, transmission and reception of knowledge, and accordingly flourished in mid-nineteenth century England. Their collective objective was to encourage innovation and experimentation in order to improve or advance agriculture. This chapter examines the function of village and town farmers’ clubs and agricultural associations in this process. It demonstrates their intrinsic role in stimulating and transmitting knowledge and their contribution to complex mechanisms of knowledge production and diffusion.

Previous studies have highlighted the importance of national agricultural organizations in the conveyance of knowledge. Nicholas Goddard's influential work on the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) demonstrated the institutional circulation of agricultural knowledge at a national level. The RASE, founded in 1838 (as the Agricultural Society of England), aimed to promote the application of science in agriculture, stimulate agricultural progress and development, and generate and communicate agricultural information. To a certain extent it shaped the purpose and organization of the many regional and local agricultural organizations that emerged during the 1840s and 1850s. Goddard positioned the RASE within a hierarchical typology of agricultural associations, which categorized them by scale (national, regional, county or district, and local) and by their purpose and objectives (educational, social, political and commercial). Naturally, enthusiasm for agricultural improvements and information on advancements predated the RASE – with the Board of Agriculture (established in 1793 and dissolved in 1822) leading the institutional promotion of agriculture, accompanied by local agricultural societies from the late eighteenth century. It was within this context that Stuart Macdonald, in a study that evaluated the diffusion of knowledge among Northumberland farmers, made reference to regional agricultural societies between 1780 and 1815. Both Goddard and Macdonald highlight that agricultural associations were an important way in which knowledge was created and circulated.