Die Entwicklung der sächsischen Pflanzenproduktion 1791-2010

Only rough estimates exist for German crop production before 1850. However, from the late eighteenth century to 1830 Saxony had probably the best records of crop output among all European states. Combining this unique data set with later statistical sources allows reconstructing for the first time reliable time series on main crops’ output over 219 years for a German territory. Periods of growth and stagnation in farming can be identified in a long-term perspective. Our data indicate that after a stagnation period c. 1790-1816 Saxony’s agriculture grew dynamically over the entire long nineteenth century until the First World War. Moreover, nothing speaks in favour of an immediate positive impact of the Saxon agrarian reforms 1831/32 on agricultural growth as suggested in the older literature. Conclusively, it looks like that immediately after the Napoleonic period a long-term acceleration of agricultural growth has started which continues until today. During the last two centuries Saxony’s crop production increased on average around one per cent per year.