Agricultural History Review, Volume 47 Part 1 (1999), pp. 29–57

Varietal innovation is a neglected aspect of British agricultural history. This paper traces the origins of the varietal proliferation which occurred during the nineteenth century to late-eighteenth century ad- vances in breeding science and to the growth of international commerce in cereals for consumption. It has been generally assumed that, in technical terms, high farming served the needs of cereals and livestock production with equal effectiveness and without prejudice to their character. In fact, this system helped establish a drift from the cereal varieties most suitable for human consumption to those better adapted to livestock. The consequential changes, which varied from cereal to cereal, form the main subject of this paper. The paper concludes by identifying shortcomings in the standard view that British farmers in the late nineteenth century were the passive victims of cheap wheat imports. 

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