Rural Economy

Farming was the main economic activity, specifically, subsistence farming. There was little to trade with. They still used the three field system, a crop rotation system from the Middle Ages.
Farming depended completely on the weather and the fertility of the land. A severe drought or a specially cold year could mean the loss of most of the harvest, a series of lost harvests led to a subsistence crisis -a great famine- that could lead to a social and political crisis, wars, or even plagues.
The land was owned by nobility and clergy. Most of the population was peasants who worked for nobles and clergy in their large estates. They also had to pay high taxes and tithes

        Plan mediaeval manor Public Domain

But on the other hand there were some places where harvest improved for a number of reasons:

• agricultural techniques like crop rotation where more widely used.
• improved agricultural machinery increased farmers' production.
• New crops were introduced, such as potatoes and corn
• The repopulation of uninhabited areas increased production