A special edition of the of the Tyne Tees Television rural affair programme Landmark presented by Eric Robson sharing the memories and celebrating the Britain's farmers during the Second World War speaking with both men and women who were involved. Title: Landmark Eric Robson presents this special edition of Landmark looking at regional farming communities and how they survived during the second world war. The programme begins with black and white archive film showing country...

A special edition of the of the Tyne Tees Television rural affair programme Landmark presented by Eric Robson sharing the memories and celebrating the Britain's farmers during the Second World War speaking with both men and women who were involved. Title: Landmark Eric Robson presents this special edition of Landmark looking at regional farming communities and how they survived during the second world war. The programme begins with black and white archive film showing country landscapes, followed by guns trained on aircraft during an air raid. This is followed by footage of farmers going about their daily work. Eric Robson describes the national state of farming at the beginning of the war. It was unable to produce enough food for a country at war as ships bringing imports would be at risk from enemy activity. However, the main cause of the poor state of farming nationally was the economic depression of the 1930s. John Green, Gloucestershire farmer and BBC Producer from 1934 to 1945, talks of how poor the state of the countryside was during this time. Professor Jim Hall who sat on the Northumberland War Agricultural Committee from 1939 to 1945 talks to camera and explains that a lot of grassland was poor in Northumberland and farming was not thriving. Sir Emrys Jones of the Gloucester War Agricultural Committee from 1939 to 1945 says that the usual supply lines were at risk from enemy activity and domestic farming at that time did not have the capacity to feed the nation. Eric Robson outlines the response of the wartime government to improve agricultural output. The 1940’s agricultural minister R S Hudson put together a team of liaison officers who visited different regions in the country to ensure control of local agricultural committees. The targets for farming during the war was to produce more cereals, potatoes and milk. The Ministry of Food fixed prices on farm produce and two million acres of grassland would be ploughed to provide new crop fields. Stan Hall a farmer in Cleadon, County Durham explains his role in a survey of local farming during wartime. Archive film shows farmers and officials in conversation crossing a field. Farmers were requested to grow certain crops; archive film shows a formal request form headed ‘The Cultivation of Land Orders 1939' Photographs show John Thomas Sanderson who farmed 600 acres at Netherton in Northumberland. The opinion of the war agricultural executives or ‘war-ags’ as they were known, was that his farming practices were not good enough to meet the new national targets. In 1943 he and his family were forced to leave the farm. Nancy Sanderson the farmer’s widow walks close to one side of the old farmhouse. She has bitter memories of being forced to leave the place where she had lived since 1931. She speaks on camera about the eviction. Sir Emrys Jones gives his view of these incidents, and Eric Robson continues the story, stating that roughly 15000 farmers were evicted from their farms. Nancy’s husband however was not unemployed, he became a tractor driver for the local war-ag. Professor Jim Hall outlines the main reasons for Stan Hall’s eviction. Advice was often given to farmers from the war-ags on how to increase yields. Jim Hall was one of many graduates from agricultural college who says that his job was to give as much technical information as possible to farmers, especially about the crops that farmers would have to grow under the new cultivation orders from government. To publicise more effectively the work Jim was doing he set up a stand at Hexham livestock market, where could meet farmers face to face and explain his role and offer advice. He says there was an element of mistrust between the farmer and technical experts like Jim, but relationships improved as he persevered. In Gloucestershire Emrys Jones was also giving advice to farmers, but in plough setting he had to be taught first before teaching others. An increase in tractor manufacture was needed to meet increasing demand from farmers. Will Bulmer a farmer in Seaham, County Durham explains how he acquired his tractor, which had to have approval from the government before he was granted a licence to buy. John Green seen earlier the film, talks of his experiences with machinery. He compared his Fordson tractor with a Spitfire plane such was the impact of machinery in helping production. Combine harvesters were introduced during wartime, as they were more efficient and less labour dependent than old methods during harvesting. Where possible land was reclaimed often by new draining schemes, some golf courses were given over to crop growing. Title: Landmark Shortage of labour during the war led to the establishment of the Women’s Land Army, on joining up they received a uniform and basic training. Two former land army women visit an old purpose-built hostel at Consett and reminisce about their wartime experiences. A photograph shows Joy Powell dressed in her uniform and on camera she speaks about the quality of the meals served up at the hostel. Joy’s companion Mary Hadden wasn’t impressed with the quality of training. She eventually was able to carry out the many tasks on a farm that were required. Joy goes on to say that the farmers were sceptical about the new workers, but the farmers learned to appreciate their hard work. Schoolboys also worked on the land and people were encouraged to spend holidays in the countryside and help with harvesting. An archive film called ‘Food Flash’ encouraged people to try different foods through publicity in a nationwide newspaper column. Despite increased production food was scarce and rationing was strict. Eric Robson lists those foods which were available but rationed. Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked why the agriculture minister had cut the nations pig population, as he thought a traditional English breakfast would be a good morale booster. People were encouraged to grow vegetables at home, which was a huge success. Farm production says Emrys Jones, had increased considerably. But attacks on convoys had an effect of reducing the availability of food. The government’s response was to increase pressure on farmers to escalate production, using newspapers articles, film and poster style messages. However, radio broadcasts were the most beneficial to the farmer, as it would probably the most likely medium that they accessed. John Green produced many broadcasts for farmers, although the government initially thought farming broadcasts would not be needed until after the war. Many farmers and especially farm workers listened to the broadcasts. By the end of the war six million acres of land had been given over to arable farming, and imports had halved. Questions were asked as to whether government had been too generous to farmers as some did very well during the war. Jim Hall said that the farmers who were wealthy at the end of the war, were not as many as in the first world war because agricultural prices were controlled. Emrys Jones said that money had to made out of the scheme for the farmers otherwise there would be no motivation to join the scheme, he concedes that some farmers became very wealthy but overall, there were no huge profits to be made. Eric Robson outlines the overall effect of the enforced farming system, in that the farm practices during the war laid the foundation for a more a supportive, scientific and technical approach to farming decades afterwards. Eric Robinson outlines the items for the following week and ends the programme. Credits: Thanks to British Movietonenews, Central Office of Information, Tynemouth Cine and Video Group, BBC Radio Newcastle Hoi Polloi Film and Video Camera Chris Sutcliffe Sound Paul Gunn, John Stephenson, John Myers Electrician Bill Hughes, Alan Fish Rostrum Camera Tod Nicol Production Assistant Carole McKenzie, Pauline Grant Production Secretary Coreen Harvey VT Editors Andy Matthews, Edmund Quigley Assistant VT Editor Claire Storey Sound Postproduction John Overton Written and Researched by William Moult Executive Producer Chris Potter Director Simon Lawson Producer Charles Bowden Waterfront Productions for Tyne Tees Television © MCMLXXXIX