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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 1928655" data-attributes="member: 7240">As long as you understand that the draft animals and equipment that comprised a heavy plough were almost never held/owned by a single individual. Operation of a heavy plough was a shared collective enterprise. As long as we understand the single peasant worker as a mathematical abstraction, you production figures don't seem off to me.However, a few caveats:(a) there are wide variations, of course, based on the weather/ecology of regions and soil quality(b) only wheat had consistent cash value historically; as long as wheat was available, those paying cash for grains would almost always purchase it over barley, rye or lower-status crops. So, even though reduced yields associated with switching from rye or barley to wheat might not make any sense, even if one factored-in wheat's considerably higher cash price, people would often switch to wheat production because barley, regardless of the volume might produce 0 cash. While I think part of the fun of D&D is changing what foods are popular and which are not, the historian in me wants to suggest that whatever grains this applies to, the problem should remain.(c) one must consider the productivity of forests; pigs and even cattle sometimes were often expected to life off forest rather than cleared land. Indeed, the Carolingian polyptics described forests based on how many pigs they could support. I think the cereal focus of your model presents some problems.(d) In 9th century France, 60% of the grains harvested were used for seeding. By the 12th, this had dropped to less than half this figure -- therefore, the portion of cereal production costs that is reinvested varies considerably. Perceiving agriculture in terms of labour rather than material costs may be problematic.(e) There is considerable variation amongst feudal models in the degree to which capital assets are owned by tenants -- sometimes things like ploughs are village/commune property, sometimes they are the property of the lord; sometiems they are individual property.Anyway, that's all my responses to this thread. I think you've raised some important issues and sparked some excellent discussion. Carry on.</blockquote>

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