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Acte de colloque : The impact of agricultural science 1850-2016: from a gentleman’s amusement to the saviour or the world?
11 05 2017
by Par Paul BRASSLEY,
02/05/2017
Contexte : Cet article est le texte d’une intervention effectuée lors du Colloque de l’Union européenne des Académies d’agriculture UEAA (présidence française) « Science in agriculture: historical perspectives and prospective insights – Science en agriculture, perspectives historiques et prospective », Académie d’agriculture de France, Paris, 12 octobre 2016.
Résumé : Vers 1850, les sciences agronomiques se sont transformées : d’un passe-temps d’amateur, elles sont devenues un travail de professionnels. Et cela a soulevé de nouvelles questions : la science agronomique était-elle simplement l’application des sciences pures aux questions agricoles, ou bien était-elle plus, et, en ce cas, de quels problèmes les agronomes devaient-ils traiter ? Cet article soutient l’hypothèse d’un développement au 19e siècle dû aux institutions agronomiques ; leurs modèles et leurs structures n’ont changé que récemment, en raison de la croissance des travaux de recherche et développement dans les pays à revenus intermédiaires. L’article traite ensuite brièvement des résultats et des lacunes de la discipline, et discute les facteurs qui peuvent expliquer la plus ou moins grande influence de ses découvertes. En conclusion, il plaide pour des recherches sur l’histoire internationale de l’agronomie.
Abstract: By 1850 agricultural science was already changing from an amateur pursuit to a professional occupation. As it did so, new questions arose: was agricultural science simply the application of the pure sciences to
agricultural problems, or was it something more, and therefore with which problems should agricultural scientists concern themselves? This paper argues that the major nineteenth-century development was in the institutions of agricultural science, and that the patterns and structures developed then have only recently changed as a result of the increase in research and development in middle income countries. There follows a brief review of the achievements and shortcomings of the discipline, and a discussion of the factors that make its discoveries more or less influential. Finally, the conclusion briefly argues for more work to synthesise a global history of agricultural science.
Keywords: agricultural science; R&D; science history; institutional change.
Mots clés : science agricole, recherche et développement, histoire des sciences, changements institutionnels.
Contact : Paul Brassley (paulbrassley@aol.com)
Page web : http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/politics/staff/brassley
Paul Brassley is a historian. He is Honorary University Fellow, University of Exeter, UK, and former chair of the British Agricultural History Society. His research interests deal with
- History of technical change, especially in agriculture
- The non-farm rural economy
- Rural life in the twentieth century
- The history of tuna fishing
- Czech history
- Landscape ephemera
He has published and co-directed many well-known books, such as “Agriculture: A Very Short Introduction, 2016”, “The English Countryside between the Wars: Regeneration or Decline? 2006”, and “War, Agriculture, and Food: Rural Europe from the 1930s to the 1950s (Routledge Studies in Modern European History), 2012”.