IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v75y2022i3p932-959.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

English farmers’ wheat storage and sales in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

Author

Listed:
  • Liam Brunt
  • Edmund Cannon

Abstract

Harnessing previously unused farm inventories and corn books, we provide data on wheat storage and sales by English farmers, 1750–1850. Wheat was predominantly stored outdoors in thatched stacks (or ‘ricks’)—often for more than a year, sometimes for multiple years—although carryover volumes were generally small. Farm stocks tended to be threshed and sold evenly across the year to meet demand. Storage costs were low, and carried over wheat sold at a premium as the natural drying process raised its quality. Wheat was frequently sold directly to millers, bypassing the open market, but private sale prices tracked market prices closely.

Suggested Citation

  • Liam Brunt & Edmund Cannon, 2022. "English farmers’ wheat storage and sales in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(3), pages 932-959, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:75:y:2022:i:3:p:932-959
    DOI: 10.1111/ehr.13133
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.13133
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ehr.13133?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liam Brunt & Edmund Cannon, 2013. "The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: the English Corn Returns as a data source in economic history, 1770-1914," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 17(3), pages 318-339, August.
    2. Gregory Clark, 2015. "Markets before economic growth: the grain market of medieval England," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 9(3), pages 265-287, september.
    3. Taylor, Alan M, 2001. "Potential Pitfalls for the Purchasing-Power-Parity Puzzle? Sampling and Specification Biases in Mean-Reversion Tests of the Law of One Price," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(2), pages 473-498, March.
    4. Burnette,Joyce, 2008. "Gender, Work and Wages in Industrial Revolution Britain," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521880633, January.
    5. Ashish Manandhar & Paschal Milindi & Ajay Shah, 2018. "An Overview of the Post-Harvest Grain Storage Practices of Smallholder Farmers in Developing Countries," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-21, April.
    6. Brunt, Liam & Cannon, Edmund, 2015. "Variations in the price and quality of English grain, 1750–1914: Quantitative evidence and empirical implications," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 74-92.
    7. Fenoaltea, Stefano, 1976. "Risk, transaction costs, and the organization of medieval agriculture," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 129-151, April.
    8. Jordan Claridge & John Langdon, 2011. "Storage in medieval England: the evidence from purveyance accounts, 1295–1349," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(4), pages 1242-1265, November.
    9. John Komlos & Richard Landes, 1991. "Anachronistic economics: grain storage in medieval England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 44(1), pages 36-45, February.
    10. Giovanni Federico, 2012. "How much do we know about market integration in Europe?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(2), pages 470-497, May.
    11. Nielsen, Randall, 1997. "Storage and English Government Intervention in Early Modern Grain Markets," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 1-33, March.
    12. Ejrnaes, Mette & Persson, Karl Gunnar, 1999. "Grain Storage in Early Modern Europe," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 59(03), pages 762-772, September.
    13. Bekar, Cliff T., 2019. "The Persistence of Harvest Shocks in Medieval England," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(4), pages 954-988, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicolas Bourgeois & Laurent Herment, 2023. "Was Labrousse Wrong? Seasonality of Grain Transactions in French Marketplaces during the July Monarchy [Labrousse avait-il tort ? La saisonalité des transactions sur les marchés des grains en Franc," Post-Print hal-04367715, HAL.
    2. Stef Espeel, 2024. "Driven by crises: Price integration on the grain market in late medieval Flanders," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(3), pages 849-872, August.
    3. Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist & Peter Thejll & Bo Christiansen & Andrea Seim & Claudia Hartl & Jan Esper, 2022. "The significance of climate variability on early modern European grain prices," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 16(1), pages 29-77, January.
    4. Brunt, Liam & Cannon, Edmund, 2013. "Integration in the English wheat market 1770-1820," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 12/2013, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    5. Daniel Bernhofen & Markus Eberhardt & Jianan Li & Stephen Morgan, 2017. "The evolution of markets in China and Western Europe on the eve of industrialisation," Discussion Papers 2017-12, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    6. John E. Murray & Javier Silvestre, 2020. "Integration in European coal markets, 1833–1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(3), pages 668-702, August.
    7. Chilosi, David & Murphy, Tommy E. & Studer, Roman & Tunçer, A. Coşkun, 2013. "Europe's many integrations: Geography and grain markets, 1620–1913," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 46-68.
    8. Claridge, Jordan & Delabastita, Vincent & Gibbs, Spike, 2024. "(In-kind) wages and labour relations in the Middle Ages: it’s not (all) about the money," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125597, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Laura Panza, 2024. "From a common empire to colonial rule: Commodity market disintegration in the Near East," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(2), pages 584-611, May.
    10. Daniel M. Bernhofen & Markus Eberhardt & Jianan Li & Stephen Morgan, 2015. "Assessing Market (Dis)Integration in Early Modern China and Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 5580, CESifo.
    11. Li, Zhuo & Panza, Laura & Song, Yong, 2019. "The evolution of ottoman–European market linkages, 1469–1914: Evidence from dynamic factor models," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 112-134.
    12. Vincent Geloso, 2024. "Does the conquest explain Quebec’s historical poverty? The economic consequences of 1760," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 18(3), pages 905-938, September.
    13. Martin Uebele & Tim Grünebaum & Michael Kopsidis, 2013. "King's law and food storage in Saxony, c. 1790-1830," CQE Working Papers 2613, Center for Quantitative Economics (CQE), University of Muenster.
    14. Lanot, Gauthier & Tribe, Keith, 2024. "Before Political Economy: Debate over Grain Markets, Dearth and Pauperism in England, 1794-96," Umeå Economic Studies 1025, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    15. Growitsch Christian & Nepal Rabindra & Stronzik Marcus, 2015. "Price Convergence and Information Efficiency in German Natural Gas Markets," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 87-103, February.
    16. Levent, Korap, 2007. "Modeling purchasing power parity using co-integration: evidence from Turkey," MPRA Paper 19584, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Matteo Pelagatti & Emilio Colombo, 2012. "Unpuzzling the Purchasing Power Parity Puzzle," Working Papers 221, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2012.
    18. Simões, Oscar R. & Marçal, Emerson Fernandes, 2012. "Agregação temporal e não-linearidade afetam os testes da paridade do poder de compra: Evidência a partir de dados brasileiros," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 66(3), October.
    19. Bergin, Paul R. & Glick, Reuven & Wu, Jyh-Lin, 2014. "Mussa redux and conditional PPP," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 101-114.
    20. Jón Steinsson, 2008. "The Dynamic Behavior of the Real Exchange Rate in Sticky Price Models," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 519-533, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:75:y:2022:i:3:p:932-959. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.