As a son of the farm in the 1920s ARTHUR STANIFORTH lived in a world of horses, hand labour and small flocks. This has given way to agri-business. Here he describes the countryside’s silent revolution

[Copyright Arthur Staniforth, 2006. This article may not be reprinted or distributed either electronically or on hard copy without permission]

I GREW up on a farm in the 1920s and 1930s. Later, I made my career in agriculture. So I have seen in close-up the revolution that the years have brought.

Farmers to a large degree have been transformed from producers to park-keepers*, particularly since the latest expression of the Common Agricultural Policy rewards them not necessarily for growing crops or raising animals but for keeping the land in a cultivable condition and providing habitats for wildlife.

Here are five important ways in which today’s farming differs from that of my boyhood:

Number of farmers
There are many fewer farmers than before World War II. Only about half the small farms remain, and many of these depend on ‘diversification’ for survival.

Farm workers
There has been a huge drop in those working on farms and, alongside this, the general farm worker’s wage has increased from £1.50 for a 60-hour week in the 1930s to a statutory minimum of around £230 for a 39-hour week today. This has meant that a comparatively small arable farm simply cannot be profitable for normal crops at their present low price while employing labour.

Nature of farm work
Farm work has been mechanised out of all recognition. For example, hand labour for weed control has been taken over by the sprayer using an amazing assortment of selective herbicides.

Horses
These friendly animals, which provided farm motive power in my boyhood, have all but disappeared – down from about a million before the war to a mere 10 or 20 thousand. At the same time, tractors have increased to around half a million, the biggest of 200 horsepower or so.

Livestock farming
The keeping of livestock has been transformed since my boyhood. Chicken farming, as it used to be called, is an example. My father built up a stock of about 500 layers, all with ‘free range’. This was a sizeable enterprise in its day, supplying the emerging Sainsburys with a few boxes a week. Now eggs are mostly produced in huge factory flocks caged in batteries: food and water are automatically conveyed, droppings are mechanically removed and the spotless eggs are trundled straight into packing cases.

* This is an idea I used for the title of my new book, Farmers: From Producers to Park Keepers, published by Trafford at £10.50 (ISBN 1412055342). Available from bookshops or online at www.trafford.com Or you may contact Ituri through our website for more information

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