Back to the future

The Second World War revolutionised British agriculture - could a similar reset help us navigate today's climate and nature crises? In the second of our farming series, Nicola Chester asks what we can learn from the 'national farm' of the 1940s

- 

Just before the Second World War in the 1930s, British farming was at the end of a long depression, partly caused by cheap grain imported from the North American prairies since the 1870s. Most farms were small, tenanted and mixed, with little surplus to sell on, and many were in a poor state of repair and partial abandonment.

Before war broke out in 1939, an astonishing 70% of British food was imported: 70% of our cheese, sugar and cereals; nearly 80% of our fruit; more than half our meat; as well as much animal feed and fertiliser to support domestic production. Moves had been made to rejuvenate and underpin British farming prior to the war but when it began, Nazi Germany occupied most Western European countries, attacking shipping routes then bombing ports: the threat and intention of mass starvation and capitulation was real.

"Before war broke out, an astonishing 70% of British food was imported"

A gargantuan national effort was needed to bring the land into service. Calculations surmised that one acre of permanent grass (for grazing animals and hay for winter) fed one to two people, an acre of wheat fed 20 people and an acre of potatoes fed 40. The latter were also heavy, bulky items to transport and merchant shipping needed to be freed up. In autumn 1939, County War Agricultural Executive Committees, known as the ‘War Ag’, were reestablished from the First World War, to survey, advise and monitor the efficient running of each farm: a type of wartime farmers’ Ofsted (the UK's national regulator and inspector for education).

Committees were given sweeping powers that filtered down to district sub-committees of influential locals and respected farmers. In October 1940, Winston Churchill’s speech to the National Farmers' Union was emphatic: “We rely on the farmers... the farms of Britain are the front line of freedom!” It was an urgent rallying cry - and it was answered. The ‘National Farm’ was born.