Editing Great Famine (Ireland) (section)

===Tenants and subdivisions===

{{See also|Irish farm subdivision}}
[[File:Irish family from Carraroe, County Galway, during the Famine.jpg|thumb|A starving Irish family from [[Carraroe]], [[County Galway]], during the Great Famine ([[National Library of Ireland]])]]
Immense [[Historical population of Ireland|population growth]], from about 2 million in 1700 to 8 million by the time of the Great Famine, led to increased division of holdings and a consequent reduction in their average size. By 1845, 24% of all Irish tenant farms were of {{convert|0.4|–|2|ha|acre|0}} in size, while 40% were of {{convert|2|–|6|ha|acre|0}}. Holdings were so small that no crop other than potatoes would suffice to feed a family. Shortly before the famine, the British government reported that poverty was so widespread that one-third of all Irish small holdings could not support the tenant families after rent was paid; the families survived only by earnings as seasonal migrant labour in England and Scotland.{{sfn|Kee|1993|p=15}} Following the famine, reforms were implemented making it illegal to further divide land holdings.{{sfn|Uris|Uris|2003|p=15}}

The [[1841 census of Ireland|1841 census]] showed a population of just over eight million. Two-thirds of people depended on agriculture for their survival but rarely received a working wage. They had to work for their landlords in return for a small patch of land to farm. This forced Ireland's peasantry to practice continuous [[monoculture]], as the potato was the only crop that could meet nutritional needs.{{sfn|Laxton|1997|p={{page needed|date=September 2018}}}}