Agriculture, like other economic activities in the 19th and 20th centuries, underwent major changes that took place at different rates depending on whether it was a small farm practising mixed farming of food crops or a large farm focused on specialised production. Thus, until the Second World War, new agricultural practices and ancestral know-how coexisted in the different branches of agriculture: livestock farming, traditional and cash crops and forestry.
Encouragement of the modernisation, mechanisation and productivism of agriculture led to a profound change in farming practices, farm organisation and valley landscapes, a strong rural exodus and a very sharp decline in the number of farms.
Illustrations :
– Lithograph of a basket and a cornucopia, Annales de la société d’agriculture de la Dordogne, 1821. (©Musée André Voulgre)
-Photograph of a beehive or bornat in Occitan, 1st half of the 20th century. (©Musée André Voulgre) 2008.0.1758
-Photograph of a yoke for oxen, early 19th c. (©Musée André Voulgre) 2008.0.1808
-Photograph of a chest for storing the rifle or scythe sharpening stone on the mower’s belt, early 19th century. (©Musée André Voulgre) 2018.26.2
Photograph of a bigot or two-toothed hoe for digging, 19th century. (©Musée André Voulgre) 2013.14.13
– Photograph of a feeding funnel « L’idéal », mid-20th century. (©Musée André Voulgre) 2018.10.48