Agricultural History Review, Volume 70 Part 1 (2022), pp. 70–95

This article presents the main results from the project Arable Land in Sweden. By examining some 9,400 cadastral maps, the acreages of arable land for the years 1810 and 1870 have been reconstructed. The calculations have thereafter been combined with other data in order to estimate agricultural production these years. As a result of the project, researchers have for the first time accurate data to quantify developments during the agricultural revolution. Surprisingly, Sweden had less arable land in the beginning of the nineteenth century than researchers have come to believe. Also, the acreage of arable land in 1870 must be adjusted downwards, but not as much. Land reclamation was thus faster than expected and firmly exceeded population growth. In addition, the data show that the expansion of the arable went hand-in-hand with increased productivity, surmounting the pitfalls of diminishing returns. In a concluding part, a partially new interpretation of Sweden’s agricultural revolution is put forward. 

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