NORFOLK SYSTEM

12 of August of 1800

A new innovative and much more efficient type of agricultural system has been created

During the last few years a new type of agricultural system has started to become popular. It started some years ago around 1790 in Norfolk, Great Britain. The person that invented it is Lord Townshend, an English Whig statesman who has worked as secretary of state. And after he started this technique some years ago, it has spread, first through Great Britain and then through the rest of Europe.

This system consists on dividing the land in four different parts. Wheat is grown in the first part, turnips in the second, followed by barley, with clover and ryegrass, in the third. The clover and ryegrass are grazed or cut for feed in the fourth part to the animals. This changes every year. The difference with all the previous systems is that in this one you do not have to leave a part fallow because the animals give nutrients to the ground. The best part of all this system is that you obtain much more benefit in the same time.