Page 124 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 124
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
2. Common-pool resources and an integrated peasant
economy
How did the growing importance of CPRs link to an integrated peasant
economy? The shift to a more intense use of CPRs coincided with the di-
vision of farms and farm labour, resulting in diversification of livelihoods.
The commons, mainly woodlands, were providing more resources, which
allowed farm division without losing economic power. To understand how
farm division could be so dramatic, one has to look at how peasants orga-
nised their stockbreeding with its division of labour (see the next subsecti-
on for a detailed explanation of farm division). This section will look more
closely at the development of an integrated economy in north central Swe-
den, where charcoal and firewood production were important and a tran-
shumance system developed.2
By expanding animal husbandry using the vast forests for grazing it
was possible to increase the number of animals. Cows, sheep, and goats
were the most common animals at farmsteads that were part of an agricul-
tural system with summer farms. In earlier studies of how the numbers of
animals changed over time, it is clear that areas with a transhumance sys-
tem on commons differed from the plains, which had limited area to use
as common land for grazing (Gadd 1983; Dahlström 2006; J. Larsson 2009,
2012). This pattern is observed in three parishes using an alpine transhu-
mance system when comparing how the numbers of animals changed from
the 16th to the 20th century. During this time, CPRs were important for eco-
nomic development and had a large impact on the organisation of produc-
tion. Three main trends appeared in this development: growth in numbers
of animals, farm division, and efficient use of labour.
Firstly, the number of animals expanded greatly from the 16th to the
mid-19th century. The large increases in sheep and goats are striking: while
the number of cows increased four to five times, the number of goats in-
creased six to eleven times and the number of sheep increased even more,
from seven to sixteen times. At the household level, the composition of the
herd was transforming. During the 16th century, the cow was the most com-
mon species in the herd, followed by goat and sheep. In the mid- 18th and up
to the mid-19th century, sheep were the most common animal in a peasant’s
herd, followed by goats (J. Larsson 2009). This change in herd composition
shows a closer connection between animal husbandry and market integra-
2 Nomadic reindeer pastoralism will not be considered here, because its development
differed substantially from agricultural development in northern Scandinavia.
122
2. Common-pool resources and an integrated peasant
economy
How did the growing importance of CPRs link to an integrated peasant
economy? The shift to a more intense use of CPRs coincided with the di-
vision of farms and farm labour, resulting in diversification of livelihoods.
The commons, mainly woodlands, were providing more resources, which
allowed farm division without losing economic power. To understand how
farm division could be so dramatic, one has to look at how peasants orga-
nised their stockbreeding with its division of labour (see the next subsecti-
on for a detailed explanation of farm division). This section will look more
closely at the development of an integrated economy in north central Swe-
den, where charcoal and firewood production were important and a tran-
shumance system developed.2
By expanding animal husbandry using the vast forests for grazing it
was possible to increase the number of animals. Cows, sheep, and goats
were the most common animals at farmsteads that were part of an agricul-
tural system with summer farms. In earlier studies of how the numbers of
animals changed over time, it is clear that areas with a transhumance sys-
tem on commons differed from the plains, which had limited area to use
as common land for grazing (Gadd 1983; Dahlström 2006; J. Larsson 2009,
2012). This pattern is observed in three parishes using an alpine transhu-
mance system when comparing how the numbers of animals changed from
the 16th to the 20th century. During this time, CPRs were important for eco-
nomic development and had a large impact on the organisation of produc-
tion. Three main trends appeared in this development: growth in numbers
of animals, farm division, and efficient use of labour.
Firstly, the number of animals expanded greatly from the 16th to the
mid-19th century. The large increases in sheep and goats are striking: while
the number of cows increased four to five times, the number of goats in-
creased six to eleven times and the number of sheep increased even more,
from seven to sixteen times. At the household level, the composition of the
herd was transforming. During the 16th century, the cow was the most com-
mon species in the herd, followed by goat and sheep. In the mid- 18th and up
to the mid-19th century, sheep were the most common animal in a peasant’s
herd, followed by goats (J. Larsson 2009). This change in herd composition
shows a closer connection between animal husbandry and market integra-
2 Nomadic reindeer pastoralism will not be considered here, because its development
differed substantially from agricultural development in northern Scandinavia.
122
