Economics on Carsis 103

Economics Theory on Carsis 103

Agriculture Income on a small estate

Here we shall look at the typical small 400a estate, About 200 acres (50%) is often farmland; 100a grain, 50a root crop, 50a fallow. Using the high average numbers for crop production we find the following is often true; 60a wheat = 360,000lbs, 20a oats = 40,000lbs, 20a barley = 60,000lbs also there is 20a potatoes = 400,000lbs, 10a carrots = 190,000lbs, 10a onions = 180,000lbs, 10a turnips = 120,000lbs. Of these numbers 25% must be kept as seed stock, 50% is consumed locally, thus the last 25% would be sold at market.

The total volume of produce at market is thus; wheat 90,000lbs / 4,500 sacks, oats 10,000lbs / 500 sacks, barley 15,000lbs / 750 sacks, potatoes 100,000lbs / 5,000 sacks, carrots 47,500lbs / 2370 sacks, onions 45,000lbs / 2,250 sacks, turnips 30,000lbs / 1,500 sacks.

If we use the normal price of 1 coin / sack we find a total value of:16,870.

In theory this would be the income of the estate from its agriculture at market. The reality is a bit more complicated. Because many estates sell at market at the same time, trade tends to be by the bushel; 80lbs for 3 coins instead of 4. This effectively reduces income by 25% so the small estate would have an income of about 12,580 coins.

How that money is divided up depends entirely on the vassalage agreements between the Lord and his farmers. At one extreme the Lord would keep almost all of it, paying just a few coins to each peasant family. This arrangement is actually quite common because it does not involve any complicated book keeping. At the other extreme the Lord may divide the produce in half, selling the first half directly himself and allowing his peasants to take the other half to market a day later. In these cases the Lord usually charges a small market permit fee.

At one end of the spectrum, each peasant family may receive 20 coins at harvest, while the Lord earns around 12,000 coins. At the other end, a Lord may earn merle 7000 coins while each peasant household earns 500 coins.

Of course a Lord also gains income from taking livestock to market. On most estates the Lord keeps as monopoly the right to sell animals to the market town. Peasants are allowed to keep and breed small numbers of livestock but only for their own use.