Chapter 520

In fact, the agricultural crisis has long been brewing, and the Russians' campaign to open up wasteland is only a fuse for the outbreak of the agricultural crisis.

After entering the 19th century, agricultural production technology developed very fast, especially the promotion of rotary tillage technology in Europe, which greatly improved the utilization rate of land.

New production tools were constantly being developed, ushering in the era of mechanized agriculture, allowing a single farmer to cultivate more land.

During this period, agricultural production also began to increase substantially. Food production in various countries is constantly breaking records. Taking Austria as an example, the growth rate of grain production has exceeded 3% for many years.

The population growth rate during the same period was far behind the increase in food production. The biggest benefit of increased food production is that most people can fill their stomachs. The increase in related agricultural and sideline products has also enriched the dining table of the people.

In the process of population growth, the agricultural population is also increasing. Although with the development of industry, a large number of rural laborers have become workers in the process of urbanization, and the proportion of agricultural population has been decreasing, but this number has increased.

In this context, in order to obtain more income, the people spontaneously started the land reclamation movement. This is not the first case of the Russians' pioneering wasteland, and it was Austria that started badly at first.

The land revolution in Austria was not perfect, and the nobles still held a large amount of land. In order to meet the farmers' demand for land, the Austrian Balkans was developed in this way.

Compared with 1850, the area of ​​arable land in Austria has doubled. As the cake gets bigger, the domestic land problem is naturally solved.

Alexander II's campaign to open up the wasteland was actually to learn from Austria's successful experience. Since farmers needed land, they should increase the supply of domestic land. With more land, the contradiction is naturally resolved.

In this way, the overcapacity of grain is unstoppable. In the process of agricultural development in Austria, the Vienna government is still intending to guide the people to plant commercial crops.

For example, the rice-to-mulberry project in Lombardy and Venice has also developed a supporting raw silk industry; the vineyard project in Bosnia and Herzegovina has also developed raisin and wine industries.

These planned developments are all trying to avoid overcapacity of grain as much as possible. However, this is a drop in the bucket, and the total grain output is still rising.

The crisis would have erupted a few years ago, had it not been for the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, and the outbreak of a civil war in the Russian Empire, which devastated Russian agricultural production.

Without a major grain exporter, there has never been a grain shortage in Europe. Now that the Russians have returned to the grain export market, their production capacity is still greater than before, and the market can no longer hold back.

There are only three countries in Europe that are not worried about being hit by food prices, and the British are naturally one of them, otherwise they would not dare to light the fire.

The industrialization of Britain was carried out early, the industrial population had already surpassed the agricultural population, and the proportion of agriculture in the gross domestic product was already very low.

The small-scale peasant economy collapsed early in the enclosure movement. The land is relatively centralized and has a strong ability to resist risks. As the world's largest importer of agricultural products, it is naturally not afraid of the collapse of food prices.

The other two countries are Belgium and Monaco. You don’t need to know about the latter. Just look at the land area and you will know that a small village near the sea has no agriculture at all.

Belgium is also a food importing country and the earliest industrial country on the European continent. The industrially developed agricultural output value is relatively low, so there is no need to worry about being affected.

From a purely economic point of view, after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, Austria has undoubtedly suffered the greatest losses. As the largest exporter of agricultural products, it is also the most affected by the impact.

Simply calculating the agricultural population, Austria's agricultural population is still more than half of the total population. It is no problem to say that Austria is an agricultural country.

However, with the development of the economy, many peasants with relatively little land actually have strong laborers at home to work in cities.

Both farming and working, they cannot simply be considered peasants or workers. When it comes to statistics, both sides are often counted.

Different provinces have different proportions of agricultural population. In the more developed Bohemia region, the proportion of the agricultural population is already less than 40%; in the developed Hungary region, the proportion of the agricultural population is as high as 70% to 80%.

Among them, the proportion of migrant workers accounts for a considerable part. In some densely populated villages, as high as 90 percent of the young and young labor force are migrant workers.

The situation in France is even more serious, and the Italian region is seriously dragging its feet, especially in southern Italy. If we count urban and rural incomes, we will find that there is not much difference at all, and there may even be cases where the income of urban workers is lower than that of farmers.

This does not mean that the agriculture in the Italian region is developed, it can only prove that the urban economy of Italy is depressed. Although these cities developed relatively early, limited by resources, the industrial development of Italy is very difficult.

This is also the main reason why the Russians are moving closer to the British and not to the French. The British can not be afraid of the impact on agriculture and dare to let in Russian agricultural products, but the French can't.

France already has a large agricultural population, coupled with the fragile economy of Italy, once the food price plummets, the market will be impacted, and if it fails, there will be chaos everywhere.

"The price of food is of great importance, and the reckless impact on the markets of various countries will inevitably bring about a very violent rebound.

Moreover, agriculture is different from industry. Even if there is overcapacity in the market, producers will not adjust it in a short time, and even the output will continue to increase.

We can regulate the domestic market and guide the people

Reducing the area under food cultivation will not affect other countries. At least we have no way to reduce the production of Russian farmers, at most we can only make them bankrupt.

Destroy the agricultural production market of various countries and establish a monopoly in the field of agricultural export. Frankly, I am not optimistic about the success of this plan.

In this world, the area of ​​land suitable for cultivation is too large, and the consumer market for agricultural products is too small.

If nothing else, as long as you understand the situation in Austrian Africa, everyone should know that Austria's grain production capacity can be doubled at any time if needed.

The English, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, also had no shortage of food-producing colonies. Once it is found that we have any signs of monopolizing the international grain export market, resistance will inevitably occur. "

Obviously, Prime Minister Felix is ​​a rationalist. Instead of supporting the great plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, it is more inclined to the protracted war proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

With its advantages in production costs, Austria is destined to occupy an important position in the agricultural export market as long as it is slowly ground.

As for the potential biggest rival, the Confederate States of America, it's not a threat at all. In the face of interests, plantation owners will naturally make the right choice.

In the original time and space, the United States did not split. After the Civil War, the United States lost its dominant position in the international cotton market, and the grain planting industry developed.

The Commonwealth of America is now a wealthy agricultural nation that continues to dominate the cotton-producing market. Without experiencing defeat and being suppressed, other cotton producing areas have no way to compete with them.

Who would go to the giant pit of the grain export market without taking the huge profits?

Yes, now the international grain export market has become a giant pit. Until the winner is determined, the food producers of various countries will not have a better life for a long time to come.

If Austria has the unique conditions as Americans, it will not die in the food market either. Now the Ministry of Agriculture proposes to destroy the agricultural production systems of European countries. In fact, this is also the push of the big aristocrats.

On the surface, the current agricultural profits can no longer satisfy their appetite, and they want to monopolize the European food supply for greater benefits.

In fact, more want to abolish that series of taxes and increase their income. Everyone knows that there is little hope of monopolizing the European food supply, but everyone likes tax cuts!

Franz had met a lot of lobbyists beforehand, and they just said that the country was already rich, and there was no shortage of income from agriculture, right?

Franz, as the spokesman for the interests of the noble class, could not refuse, but as the emperor he had to consider the interests of the country, so this agricultural economic conference appeared.

The end result was naturally that the government cut some taxes, made up for their losses in this turmoil, and appeased the aristocracy. Not all exemptions are given to wallets.

As for the peasant class, they hitched a ride. Otherwise, how could these policies, such as tax cuts and food protection price protection, be proposed by the bureaucrats to take care of their interests?

The reason is not important, as long as the actual benefits can be obtained, then it is right. Today, Austrian peasants actually hold more land than the nobility, occupying about 34% of the land area.

Unknowingly, the aristocracy became the political voice of the peasant class. This result was completely beyond Franz's expectations.

Seeing that the meeting was almost over, the aggressive plan of the Ministry of Agriculture had been rejected by the cabinet, and Franz knew it was time to perform.

"The success rate of monopolizing the European food supply is too low, and the impact on the agricultural production system of various countries has to be done, but it cannot be too extreme.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer's suggestion is good. Let's start with the Anglo-Russian agreement to see how solid the Anglo-Russian friendship is. By the way, we can clean up our old grain.

The Ministry of Agriculture's plan should be taken back and redone to minimize our presence in this turmoil. The reason for the collapse in food prices must be caused by the Russians.

Once the agricultural crisis is in full swing, there will certainly be a wave of farmer bankruptcies in Europe, and it may last for a long time.

The Colonial Ministry should also act immediately to pull people from European countries. Especially the Russian Empire, they will be the hardest hit by this crisis, and as allies, they are obliged to help them eliminate hidden dangers. "

In this agricultural crisis in the original time and space, the German region was the hardest hit area, during which millions of Germans immigrated to the United States.

Now the situation has changed, Austria has repeatedly recruited immigrants in the German region, and the overpopulation situation has been solved.

The best proof is the German Federal Empire. After so many years of establishment, the total population has not exceeded 10 million, and it is completely standing still.

If you see their immigration data, you will not be surprised. From 1854 to the present, the population of the German Federal Empire has flowed out as high as 3.5 million.

After running out so much, the local population naturally cannot rise. If so many people stayed in place to reproduce, according to the local birth rate and death rate, the population of the German Federal Empire would have exceeded 16 million by now.

The wool here is almost finished, and Franz reaches out to the Russian Empire again. Even after the defeat in the Russian-Prussian War and the loss of several million square kilometers of territory, the Russian Empire still has a population of more than 74 million.

Franz has already played to stimulate fertility, and the birth rate in many places in Austria is still lower than that of Russians. If it weren't for the lower mortality rate in Austria, the population growth rate would definitely not keep up with the Russians.

according to

According to the analysis of sociologists, the Russian Empire will continue to have a baby boom in the next few years. The farmers who have obtained the land will work hard to give birth, and the birth rate is expected to exceed 6%.

This data is not surprising. The average life expectancy of the Russian Empire is broken. The population structure is mainly minors, teenagers, and middle-aged people. There are very few people over forty-five years old.

From the data analysis, that is, more than half of the people in the Russian Empire are child-bearing population of the right age. With such a high proportion of young adults, coupled with the lack of recreational activities for the people, they go home and make people when they have nothing to do, and the birth rate is naturally high.

Not only does the Russian Empire have a large population of children of the right age, but almost every country has a high proportion of the population of childbearing age, which is more than 40% in most countries.

After entering the 19th century, the European population entered a period of skyrocketing, and the population growth rate of all countries was very fast. The slowest growth rate was the French, followed by Spain and Italy.

The main reason is the economy, farmers who do not have enough land can no longer afford to give birth. Not to mention workers, the high number of abandoned babies speaks volumes.

Of course, the government's policy is also an important factor leading to the low population growth rate in the three countries. In this day and age, it cannot be said that these policies are completely wrong.

The domestic economic development has not improved. If the population growth is not suppressed, how can the extra people be raised?

The French are an exception. Their problem is not that they can't afford to support them, but that they are completely messing around.

Food prices have collapsed, and the Russian Empire with a high population birth rate must be the hardest hit area. If you stay in the country, families with many children will definitely not be able to support them.

Immigrants at this time, but relieve the pressure in Alexander II. However reluctant the tsarist government was, it was impossible for them to prevent the people from leaving during this period.

From this point of view, both sides also get what they want. For the stable first tsarist government, the sequelae are not worth mentioning if the internal hidden dangers can be eliminated.