9 sentences with “crop”

Agriculturally, bronze ploughs allowed higher crop yields.

A series of crop failures led to periods of famine in Europe from the early 14th century onwards.

Lower climatic temperatures meant lower crop yields, more common crop failures and more frequent famines.

Over time, however, there were some important technological breakthroughs that allowed for much higher crop yields. These included:

The agricultural revolution of the early Middle Ages had been brought about by technology (heavier ploughs, new harnesses, crop rotation, etc.).

Crop rotation is the process of planting a different type of crop in one field each year, and then "rotating" to the next field in the following year.

The medieval agricultural revolution had enormous long-term consequences for peasants and ultimately for European society as a whole, thanks to increased animal power and the effects of crop rotation, existing fields became much more productive.

Until that time, European farmers tended to employ two-field crop rotation, planting one field while leaving another "fallow" to recover its fertility for the following year. This system was sustainable, but limited the number of crops that could be grown.

From around 1000 CE, farmers became more systematic in their use of the three-field crop rotation: working with three linked fields, they would plant one with wheat, another with legumes (peas, beans, lentils) or barley, and leave one fallow, allowing animals to graze on their grasses and last season's leftover stalks, with their manure helping to fertilise the soil.