Trigo - History Lab

Evolution of the price of a bushel of wheat in Spain 1700-1714

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

Cuenca represented the living image of the crisis of the 17th century in which its population, productive activity and wealth had declined enormously. At the same time, at the end of the century, a slight recovery could be glimpsed among its neighbours and the recovery of Cuenca’s flourishing textile industry of the past. However, the impact of the subsistence crises during the modern period caused by natural phenomena with their consequences on prices, mortality or marriage rates, tried to be attenuated by the interventions of the municipal administration. In October 1709, the lack of wheat became evident, making it necessary to resort to the Cathedral Chapter so that its members could deliver grain for the supply. The Council of Castile revealed how some councillors did not comply with the grain pragmatic order, selling wheat at 38 reales per bushel. In other places, such as Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the price of a bushel of wheat reached 120 reales and bread 47 cuartos, making it impossible for the average worker to buy it on a daily wage of 5 or 6 reales. The rise in the price of wheat hit Cuenca and Murcia particularly hard in 1709, while in towns in the north of Castile such as Burgo de Osma the price rose to a lesser extent. In the southern half of the peninsula, in Jaén, the price began to stabilise around 1708, as from 1709 the maximum price per bushel was set at 28 reales.

The post Evolution of the price of a bushel of wheat in Spain 1700-1714 first appeared on History Lab.

Price of wheat and price of barley in 17th century Spain (Annual averages)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

The post Price of wheat and price of barley in 17th century Spain (Annual averages) first appeared on History Lab.

Wheat prices and wine prices in 17th century Spain (annual averages expressed in index numbers)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

Different considerations have been made about the evolution of the Spanish economy during the 17th century, in which the existence of a generalised and prolonged crisis in the Spain of the misnamed minor Habsburgs was acknowledged. However, during that period the number of active people did not fall, agricultural production had precisely to register a downward trend, where there was a “hidden unemployment” and the decrease in the cultivated area allowed the average quality of the cultivated land to improve and the breeding of livestock to expand. In this sense, it would have to be admitted that in Castilla la Nueva the trend in relative prices not only justified the planting of vines on “bread and butter” land during the first half of the 17th century, but encouraged just the opposite. The Rioja wine price series is much more reliable, as it relates the prices achieved on the market for a homogeneous product. In the period 1618-1628, the behaviour of the terms of trade significantly encouraged the planting of vines at the expense of arable land. In the first half of the 17th century, the movement of prices did not cause a significant change in the composition of the agricultural product, tending to increase the share of wine at the expense of cereals.

The post Wheat prices and wine prices in 17th century Spain (annual averages expressed in index numbers) first appeared on History Lab.

Price of wheat and price of meat in 17th century Spain (annual averages expressed in index numbers)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

Different considerations have been made about the evolution of the Spanish economy during the 17th century, in which the existence of a generalised and prolonged crisis in the Spain of the misnamed minor Habsburgs was acknowledged. However, during that period the number of active people did not fall, agricultural production had precisely to register a downward trend, where there was a “hidden unemployment” and the decrease in the cultivated area allowed the average quality of the cultivated land to improve and the breeding of livestock to expand. The price of meat increased during the first half of the 17th century. Taking the terms of trade of the 1570s as a reference point, the trajectory of the terms of trade is not so favourable for meat producers. The behaviour of relative prices was not a sufficient condition for the emergence of important stimuli to expand cattle breeding, since the growth in operating costs led to a decrease in profits. In this sense, the area of communal pastures, due to ploughing, deforestation, enclosures and vineyard plantations, fell sharply in the second half of the 16th century and, most probably, in the first third of the 18th century. This led, as contemporaries reported, to an intense upward movement in the price of herbs between 1550 and 1630. Given the high percentage of production costs, it is likely that the balance sheets of the herds tended to worsen. The demand for meat plummeted in Old Castile in the first half of the 17th century, due to the decline in population, the deep crisis in the cities and economic difficulties in general, and the rise in the price of meat is a testimony to the depression of the cattle ranching industry.

The post Price of wheat and price of meat in 17th century Spain (annual averages expressed in index numbers) first appeared on History Lab.

Land profitability in Ecija (Seville) in the mid-18th century (in reals per bushel cultivated)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:57 +0000

The growth of Ecija led it to become a second-tier town within the southern urban network, acting as a link between the large cities and the rural areas. In general, the landscape was dominated by cultivation, as further to the northwest there were areas of uncultivated wasteland. The land dedicated to cultivation occupied 76.7% of the total area of the municipality, higher than that of Seville, which occupied 57.3%. This land was used in different ways, with cereals occupying 73.61% and more than half of the total area; olive groves occupy 25.3%, while vineyards (0.69%) and orchards (0.37%) are minority crops. Amongst the orchard products, new products such as cotton and maize, introduced at the beginning of the century, were of note, although they were of little importance in Ecija. It is worth noting that not all the land was of equal quality and that it was unevenly distributed according to its use. In the lands cultivated without interruption, wheat yields of 7.5, 6.8 and 5.3 respectively in the three qualities; in the biennially cultivated fields, the wheat yields are 6.6, 5.3 and 4; in the lands of the third, wheat yields are 8, 6.4 and 4.3. However, when studying the benefits of the field, an approximation to the monetary equivalences is more representative. The General Declaration gives considerable detail on which crops were the most lucrative.

The post Land profitability in Ecija (Seville) in the mid-18th century (in reals per bushel cultivated) first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of wheat prices in Early Modern Spain

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:46 +0000

During the Modern Age, the availability of food was, to a large extent, a determining factor in the standard of living of the population. One of the great economic efforts for most families was the acquisition of the food necessary for survival, with cereals, especially wheat, and bread, accounting for between 65 and 70% of current expenditure. Because of its importance, the demand for wheat tended to be inelastic. Consequently, changes in its price marked the rise and fall of living standards. At the regional level, the behaviour of the price of wheat showed divergences depending on whether one lived in the centre or on the coast of the peninsula. While the price fluctuation was greater in the Meseta, the coastal areas, with their international trade routes, showed less variation. Thus, throughout the modern period, Barcelona and Valencia had lower prices than in Castilla la Nueva, Segovia or León. Periods of crisis were also important. In Castilla la Nueva, price volatility conditioned the market every 9.8 years; in Andalusia every 10.6 years; in Segovia every 14.1 years; in Navarre every 36.8 years; in Valencia every 38.4 years and in Barcelona every 69 years. Climatic disturbances also affected markets with less international trade capacity. However, from the beginning of the 16th century until the end of the 18th century, the common price tended to fall in parallel with the process of integration of the peninsular markets, a process which, although timid during the first two centuries of modernity, increased with the actions of the Enlightenment reformers.

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