Risk and risk management in English agriculture, c. 1750–1850

This article scrutinizes the claim that the residual claimant in English agriculture was the fixed rent tenant farmer rather than the landlord. Examination of methods of agricultural insurance and risk management indicates that the income risks of farming were sizable, not straightforward to manage, and largely borne by the tenant. Thus the farmer’s profit appears to have fluctuated by more over time and space than did the rent paid to the landlord. Attempts are made to assess changes over time in the nature and size of the production and price risks to which farmers were exposed.