Editing Economy of Jersey (section)

== History ==
===Agriculture===
Until the 16th century, the economy of Jersey was based on [[feudalism]] and [[Open-field system|open-field]] self-sustenance agriculture. The main crop, wheat, was exported and sold to Spanish merchants in [[Saint-Malo|St Malo]].<ref name=":23">{{Cite thesis |title=The rural community in nineteenth century Jersey |url=https://pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1410448~S15 |publisher=typescript |date=1991 |place=S.l. |first=John D. |last=Kelleher |access-date=2023-01-03 |archive-date=2021-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328050841/https://pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1410448~S15 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Rp|page=37}}

[[Enclosure]] happened in Jersey around the end of the 16th century. Unlike in England, enclosure was done by the peasantry in order to make profit from producing [[cider]], the production of which moved Jersey's economy from self-sufficiency to [[Cash crop|cash-crop]] agriculture.<ref name=":23" />{{Rp|page=37}} From then until the 19th century, cider was the largest agricultural export;<ref name=":9" /> in 1795, 20 percent of the island was [[orchard]].<ref name=":23" />{{Rp|page=37}} In 1839 for example, {{convert|268199|impgal|L}} of cider were exported from [[Jersey]] to England alone,<ref name=":9">''Balleine's History of Jersey'', {{ISBN|1-86077-065-7}}</ref> but by 1870 exports from Jersey had slumped to {{convert|4632|impgal|L}}.<ref>''The Triumph of the Country'', Kelleher, Jersey 1994, {{ISBN|0-9518162-4-1}}</ref> Beer had replaced cider as a fashionable drink in the main export markets, and even the home market had switched to beer as the population became more urban.

Enclosure and the subsequent transition to cash-crop agriculture can be blamed for shortages in essential crops, particularly corn, which caused political instability in the island, such as the 1769 [[Corn Riots]].<ref name=":23" />{{Rp|page=40}}

Potatoes overtook cider as the most important crop in Jersey in the 1840s. Small-scale cider production on farms for domestic consumption, particularly by seasonal workers from Brittany and mainland Normandy, was maintained, but by the mid-20th century production dwindled until only eight farms were producing cider for their own consumption in 1983.<ref>Jersey Society in London, Bulletin, 1983</ref> The number of orchards had been reduced to such a level that the destruction of trees in the Great Storm of 1987 demonstrated how close the Islands had come to losing many of its traditional cider apple varieties. A concerted effort was made to identify and preserve surviving varieties and new orchards were planted. As part of diversification, farmers have moved into commercial cider production, and the cider tradition is celebrated and marketed as a heritage experience.

Since the 1800s a significant portion of the Jersey economy has been greenhouse agriculture raising fruits, vegetables and flowers under glass. In the twenty first century this has been a declining activity with many greenhouses now unused and some in derelict condition. There was a motion in the Jersey legislature in early 2022 to repurpose unused greenhouses as construction sites for housing. A compromise proposal was that half the unused greenhouses be used for other purposes. The measures failed to pass <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-60779399|title=States reject building on derelict greenhouse sites|date=March 17, 2022|via=www.bbc.com|access-date=December 23, 2022|archive-date=December 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223011021/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-60779399|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Textiles===
The [[textile industry]] became a popular export industry for islanders, particularly women. In fact, the trade became so popular that in 1608 the States had to ban knitting during harvest and vraicing season. This industry connected rural Jerseymen to the wider global economy.<ref name=":23" />{{Rp|page=37–8}} The [[knitting]] of woollen garments was a thriving industry for Jersey during the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/features/knitting/regional/index.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027131353/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/features/knitting/regional/index.html|url-status=dead|title=Regional Knitting in the British Isles and Ireland|archivedate=October 27, 2007}}</ref> The knitting industry died sometime after 1750.<ref name=":23" />{{Rp|page=37–8}}

===Ship building===
Jersey was the 4th largest ship building area in the 19th century [[British Isles]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=2003-12-24|title=Tourism schooner plans unveiled|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/3345299.stm|access-date=2021-02-12|archive-date=2018-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306085617/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/3345299.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> See [[History of Jersey]].

===Historical exchange rates===
Jersey pounds per US dollar - 0.55 (2005), 0.6981 (January 2002), 0.6944 (2001), 0.6596 (2000), 0.6180 (1999), 0.6037 (1998), 0.6106 (1997); the Jersey pound is at par with the British pound.