Following are the ways from which the proto-industrial production helped the poor farmers in countryside: 1.In the countryside poor peasants and artisans began looking for merchants. This was a time when open fields were disappearing and commons were closed. 2.Cottagers and poor peasants, who had earlier depended on common lands for their survival, had to now look for alternative sources of income. 3.Many had small land holdings, which could not provide work for all the members of the family. 4.So merchants came around and offered advances to produce goods for them, peasants eagerly agreed. 5.By working for the merchants, they could remain in the countryside and continue to cultivate their small plots. 6.So income from proto-industrialisation supplemented their shrinking income from cultivation and raised their standard of living.