The granaries of Finland

Abstract

The frontiers of cultivation of many familiar European plants are inscribed on the map of Finland. Risks of crop failure are considerable and were much greater in the past. With a view to improving the general state of the rural economy, the Finnish Economic Society (Finska hishållningssällkapet) was founded in 1797. Its officers initiated a series of surveys in the early nineteenth century with a view to assessing the agricultural situation. In order to reduce the risk of famine through crop failure, the Society encouraged the construction and improved maintenance of parish granaries. This paper traces the origin and development of the grain storehouses and focuses upon a map of their distribution about 1820. It identifies the nature of the source material, touches upon the assessments that were made possible, and considers the social as well as the economic contribution that the parish storehouses made. The storehouses became redundant in the regional twentieth century, but most remain as relic features in the rural landscape where they have acquired new functions.