What were the causes of the troubles faced by Roman farmers?

Answer 1

Many of them had been unable to farm because they were fighting in Rome's war's.Others had suffered damage to their farms during Hannibal's invasion of Italy.Moreover small farmers could not compete with wealthy Romans who were buying up land to create latifundia or large farming estates.

Answer 2

In the Late Roman Republic there was the impoverishment of small peasant farmers after the Second Punic War (218-201 BC). Their small farms became unviable either because they were ravaged during the war or because they had been neglected because of prolonged military service by peasants. They had to sell their land and migrate to Rome to eke out a living there. The rich landowners took advantage of this to buy land on the cheap. In some case they even forced people out of their land. The expansion of their large landed estates was facilitated by the emergence of an abundant supply of slaves. Slaves were war captives and Rome winning many wars created a large pool of slave labour. Most slaves were bought by the large landowners who employed them in their fields.

In the Later Empire (4th-6th centuries BC) the main problem for farmers was an oppressive taxation regime which the emperor enforced to fund a bloated bureaucracy and a massive army.

Answer 3

1. They had been unable to farm because they were fighting in Rome's wars

2. farms had suffered damage during Hannibal's invasion

3. Wealthy Romans were buying up land to create large farming estates

Answer 4

During the Middle and Late Roman Republic there was mass impoverishment. Loss of land by peasants was a big problem from the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) on. Many small farms were ravaged by Hannibal's forces during his invasion of Italy and many more were neglected due to the peasants' prolonged military service during that war. The owners of large landed estates took advantage of this to buy land on the cheap from distressed peasants. They were also advantaged by the abundant supply of slave labour created by the war (slaves were war captives). The majority of slaves were bought by rich landlords and were employed in the fields of the large estates. This abundant supply of labour facilitated the productive expansion of the estates. This trend continued and Rome was flooded by dispossessed peasants who migrated there to eke out a living, swelling the masses of the poor.

The problem of indebtedness was a long standing one and already existed in the early days of Rome. Before the emergence of an abundant supply of slave labour, the rich landlords secured the labour of the poor through debt bondage/slavery (nexus). The rich extended credit at unaffordable levels of interest rates so that debts had to be repaid by providing labour to the rich perpetually. The nexus ended when it was replaced by slave labour. However, the problem of indebtedness persisted as indicated by legislations which attempted to regulate levels of interest rates even after the nexus ended.

Answer 5

They couldn't compete with the large-scale slave-based farming of the extremely rich.

Answer 6

i have not stinking clue