The Real Agricultural Revolution. The Transformation of English Farming, 1939–1985
RHN 105/2021 | Publication
https://www.ruralhistory.eu/newsletter/2021/rhn-2021-105
https://www.ruralhistory.eu/newsletter/2021/rhn-2021-105/@@download/image/Cover_Brassley et al_The Real Agricultural Revolution.jpg
RHN 105/2021 | Publication
Paul Brassley, David Harvey, Matt Lobley, and Michael Winter, The Real Agricultural Revolution. The Transformation of English Farming, 1939–1985 (Boydell Studies in Rural History), Martlesham: Boydell Press 2021.
An investigation into farming practices throughout a period of seismic change.
In 1939 British agriculture was largely powered by the muscles of men, women, and horses, and used mostly nineteenth-century technology to produce less than half of the country’s temperate food. By 1985, less land and far fewer people were involved in farming, the power sources and technologies had been completely transformed, and the output of the country’s agriculture had more than doubled.
This is the story of the national farm, reflecting the efforts and experiences of 200,000 or so farmers and their families, together with the people they employed. But it is not the story of any individual one of them. We know too little about change at the individual farm level, although what happened varied considerably between farms and between different technologies. Based on an improbably-surviving archive of Farm Management Survey accounts, supported by oral histories from some of the farmers involved, this book explores the links between the production of new technologies, their transmission through knowledge networks, and their reception on individual farms. It contests the idea that rapid adoption of technology was inevitable, and reveals the unevenness, variability and complexity that lay beneath the smooth surface of the official statistics.
Paul Brassley is an Honorary University Fellow in the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter. David Harvey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University (Denmark), and an Honorary Professor of Historical Geography, University of Exeter. Matt Lobley is Professor of Rural Resource Management and Director of the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter. Michael Winter is Professor of Land Economy and Society in the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter.
This is the first volume to appear in the new Boydell Studies in Rural History edited by Richard W. Hoyle. More information at the BAHS website.
Buy this book from Boydell and Brewer's web site for the special price of £39. Use the Offer Code BB135 at the checkout. Offer ends 31 December 2021.
Read Paul Brassley's entry in the Boydell and Brewer Blog
Source: https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783276356/the-real-agricultural-revolution/