Development of English Agriculture 181573

The importance of the fourteenth century for the development of English law has long been recognised. The shocks and challenges of that period - the murder of the incompetent Edward II, Edward III's ever escalating military demands for the war in France and the unparalleled disaster of the Black Death - gave English society a trauma that found its ultimate expression in Lollardy and the Peasants' Revolt.

The world's demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.