Chapter 601

The agricultural crisis had been brewing for a long time. Russia's land reclamation campaign was only a fuse for the outbreak of the agricultural crisis.

After entering the 19th century, agricultural production technology developed very quickly, especially the spread of rotation farming technology in Europe, which greatly increased the land utilization rate.

New production tools were constantly developed, opening the prelude to the era of mechanized agriculture, allowing farmers to cultivate more land.

During this period, agricultural production also began to increase significantly. Food production in various countries was constantly breaking records. Austria, for example, increased food production by more than 3% every year.

At the same time, the population growth rate was far from keeping up with the growth of food production. The biggest advantage of the increase in food production was that most people could fill their stomachs. The related increase in agricultural products also enriched the people's dining tables.

In the process of population growth, the agricultural population also increased. Although with the development of industry, a large number of rural laborers became workers in the process of urbanization, and the proportion of the agricultural population continued to decrease, the number still increased.

In this context, in order to obtain more income, the people spontaneously began land reclamation campaigns. Russia's land reclamation wasn't the first. At first, it was Austria who started it badly.

The land revolution in Austria wasn't perfect, and the nobles still held a large amount of land. In order to meet the farmers' demand for land, The Balkans were developed.

Compared to 1850, the area of arable land in Austria had doubled. When the cake was bigger, the domestic land problem was naturally solved.

Alexander II Of Russia launched the land reclamation campaign, in fact, to learn from Austria's successful experience. Since the farmers needed land, then increase the domestic land supply. With more land, the contradiction would naturally be solved.

In this way, food overcapacity was unstoppable. In the process of Austria's agricultural development, the Government of Vienna also deliberately guided the people to grow cash crops.

For example, the rice to mulberry program in Lombardy and Venetia also developed the supporting raw silk industry; the vineyard program in Bosnia and Herzegovina also developed the raisin and wine industry.

These planned developments were all to avoid food overcapacity as much as possible. However, this was also a drop in the bucket, and the total food production was still rising.

If it wasn't for the outbreak of the Prussian War and the civil war in the Russian Empire, which severely damaged Russia's agricultural production, this crisis would've broken out a few years ago.

Without a major food exporter, Europe didn't have a food shortage. Now that Russia had returned to the food export market, and the production capacity was even better than before, the market couldn't handle it no matter what.

There were only three countries in Europe that didn't worry about the impact of food prices. The British were naturally one of them, or they wouldn't have dared to start the fire.

Britannia industrialized early, and the industrial population had already exceeded the agricultural population. The proportion of GDP from agriculture was already very low.

The small-scale peasant economy had long collapsed during the land enclosure movement. The land was relatively centralized, and the country was more resistant to risks. It was also the world's largest importer of agricultural products, so naturally, it was not afraid of food prices collapsing.

The other two countries were Belgium and Monaco. There was no need to know about the latter. Just by looking at the size of the country, one could tell that it was a small village near the sea.

Belgium was also a food-importing country. It was one of the first industrialized countries in Europe. Its industry was developed and its agricultural output was low, so there was no need to worry about the impact.

From a purely economic point of view, after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, Austria undoubtedly suffered the greatest loss. From an economic point of view, Austria's agricultural population was more than half of the total population.

Austria was an agricultural country, but with the development of the economy, many farmers with relatively little land actually had strong laborers working in the cities.

However, with the development of the economy, many farmers with relatively little land actually had strong laborers working in the cities.

Since they farmed and worked, they couldn't simply be regarded as farmers or workers. When it came to statistics, both sides were often accounted for.

Different provinces had different proportions of the agricultural population. In the more economically developed Bohemia, the proportion of agricultural population was less than 40%, while in the more developed Hungary, the proportion of agricultural population was as high as 70% to 80%.

Among them, the proportion of migrant workers accounted for a considerable part. In some densely populated villages, the number of young laborers working in the cities was as high as 90%.

The situation in France was more serious. The Regions of Italy, especially the Southern Regions of Italy, were seriously lagging behind. If the income of urban and rural areas was calculated, there wasn't much difference at all. There were even situations where the income of urban workers was lower than that of farmers.

This didn't mean that the Regions of Italy had developed agriculture. It only proved that Italy's urban economy was depressed. Although these cities were developed earlier, due to the limited resources, Italy's industrial development was very difficult.

This was also the main reason why Russia was closer to the British and not the French. The British were not afraid of the impact on agriculture and dared to allow Russia's agricultural products in, but the French couldn't.

France already had a large agricultural population. Coupled with the economically weak Regions of Italy, once the price of food plummeted, the market would be affected, and there would be smoke everywhere.

"The price of food is of great importance. If it rashly hits the markets of various countries, the rebound will be very violent.

Moreover, agriculture is different from industry. Even if there is excess production in the market, the producers won't adjust in a short period of time, and the production will continue to increase.

We can control the domestic market and guide the people to reduce the area planted, but we can't affect other countries. At least we can't make Russia's farmers reduce production. At most, we can make them go bankrupt.

We can destroy the agricultural production market of various countries and establish a monopoly in the agricultural export field. Frankly speaking, I'm not optimistic about the success of this plan.

In this world, the area of land suitable for farming is too large, but the market for agricultural products is too small.

Not to mention other things, as long as you understand the situation in Austria Africa, you should know that if needed, Austria's food production can be multiplied several times at any time.

The British, Portuguese, Dutch, and French, they also have a lack of food-producing colonies. Once they find out that we have signs of monopolizing the international food export market, an attack will inevitably occur. "

Obviously, Prime Minister Felix was a rational person. He didn't support the great plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, but was more inclined to the protracted war proposed by the Minister of Finance.

With the advantage of production costs, as long as they slowly grind, Austria was destined to occupy an important position in the agricultural export market.

As for the potential biggest competitor, the United States of America, it was not a threat at all. In the face of interests, the plantation owners would naturally make the right choice.

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

Now the United States of America was a rich agricultural country, and it continued to dominate the cotton production market. Without experiencing defeat and suppression, other cotton production areas had no way to compete with them.

Who would have nothing better to do, and not take the rich profits, and run to jump into the huge pit of the food export market?

That's right, now the international food export market had become a huge pit. Before the winner was determined, the food producers of various countries would not have an easy time for a long time in the future.

If Austria had the unique conditions of the United States, it would not fight to the death in the food market. Now that the Ministry of Agriculture proposed to collapse the agricultural production system of European countries, in fact, this was also pushed by the big aristocrats.

On the surface, it was because the current profits in agriculture could no longer satisfy their appetite, and they wanted to monopolize the European food supply to obtain greater benefits.

In fact, it was more that they wanted to abolish the series of taxes and increase their own income. Everyone knew that the hope of monopolizing the European food supply was slim, but everyone liked tax cuts!

In advance, Franz had received a lot of lobbyists. It was nothing more than saying that the country was already rich and did not lack the income from agriculture. Was it …

As the spokesperson of the aristocratic class, Franz naturally could not refuse, but as the emperor, he must consider the national interest, so this agricultural economic conference appeared.

The final result was naturally that the government cut a part of the tax to make up for their losses in this storm and appease the aristocratic class. Considering the wallet, not all of it was exempted.

As for the peasant class, they got a free ride. Otherwise, how could the bureaucrats propose policies that took care of their interests such as tax cuts and food price protection?

The reason was not important, as long as the actual benefits could be obtained, then it was right. To this day, compared to the nobles, the Austrian peasants actually occupied more land, occupying about three-quarters of the total land area.

Unknowingly, the aristocrats had become the spokesperson of the peasant class in politics. This result was completely beyond Franz's expectations.

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

"The success rate of monopolizing the European food supply is too low. We need to attack the agricultural production system of various countries, but we can't be too extreme.

The Minister of Finance's suggestion is good. We can first start with the Anglo-Russian agreement to see how solid the Anglo-Russian friendship is, and at the same time, clean up our stale food.

The Ministry of Agriculture's plan will be redone, and we will try to reduce our presence in this storm as much as possible. The reason for the plummeting food prices must be caused by the Russians.

Once the agricultural crisis breaks out, there will definitely be a wave of farmers going bankrupt in Europe, and it may last for a long time.

The Colonial Department also needs to act immediately to pull people from European countries. Especially the Russian Empire, they will be the hardest hit by this crisis, and as an ally, it is our obligation to help them eliminate hidden dangers. "

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

Now the situation has changed, and Austria has repeatedly solicited immigrants from the German Region, and the overpopulation situation has been solved.

The best proof is the German Federal Empire, which has been established for so many years, and the total population has not exceeded 10 million, completely in the same place.

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

With so many people going out, the local population naturally can't rise. If so many people stayed in place to reproduce, according to the local birth and death rates, the population of the German Federal Empire would have exceeded 16 million.

The sheep here were almost cut, and Franz extended his hand to the Russian Empire. Even though they lost the Prussian War and lost millions of square kilometers of territory, the Russian Empire still had more than 74 million people.

Franz has already played with stimulated births, but the birth rate in many places in Austria is still lower than in Russia. If it wasn't for the lower death rate in Austria, the population growth rate would definitely not be able to keep up with Russia.

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

This data is not surprising. The average life expectancy of the Russian Empire is continuous, and the population structure is mainly minors, teenagers, middle-aged people, and very few people over 45 years old.

From the analysis of the data, more than half of the people in the Russian Empire are of childbearing age. With such a high proportion of young adults, coupled with the lack of entertainment activities, people go home to make children when they have nothing to do, so the birth rate is naturally high.

Not only is the Russian Empire high in childbearing age, but almost every country has a high proportion of childbearing age, and most countries have more than 40%.

After entering the 19th century, the European population entered a period of explosive growth, and the population growth rate of each country was very fast. The slowest growth rate is the French, followed by Spain and Italy.

The main reason is still economic, and farmers without enough land can no longer afford to have a baby. Needless to say, the high number of abandoned babies is enough to explain the problem.

Of course, government policies are also an important reason for the low population growth rate of the three countries. In this era, these policies can't be said to be completely wrong.

The domestic economic development is not improving, and if the population growth is not restrained, how can the additional people afford to support?

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

Food prices are skyrocketing, and the Russian Empire with a high birth rate is definitely a disaster area. If they stay in the country, families with many children will definitely not be able to support them.

Emigrating at this time is to reduce the pressure on Alexander II Of Russia. No matter how reluctant the Tsarist government is, they can't stop the people from leaving during this period.

In this respect, both sides are also taking what they need. For the Tsarist government, stability first, as long as they can eliminate the internal hidden dangers, the consequences are not worth mentioning.