The Pattern of Farming East Midlands

110.11010.ppiDATI ACIRICULTUR*' °N °F LisRASZ*N9"1" UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF OF 1NOTTINGHAM AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS THE PATTERN OF FARMING IN THE EAST MIDLANDS BY R. I3ENNETT jONES, M.SC. 6s. Od. THE PATTERN OF FARMING IN THE EAST MIDLANDS by R. BENNETT JONES, M.Sc • University of Nottingham School of Agriculture Department of Agricultural Economics Sutton Bonington Loughborough. 1954. ndse Nottin9fla7nsiure Derbjs alre Keste v en. • Rut ía. nct. L ei cestersALre. HEIGHT' ABOVE SEA LEVEL 8001 and over. 200' — 8001 — 200/ MAP SHOWING PHYSICAL FEATURES OF EAST MIDLANDS PROVINCE. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The courtesy of the -Ministry of Agriculture in permitting access to the June, 1947 Agricultural Returns is gratefully acknowledged. The author is especially indebted to Mrs. P. P. Nicolson (nee Richardson) for supervising and checking the clerical work and for the preparation of the various dot diagrams and maps. This entailed a vast amount of careful and painstaking work. Thanks are also due to the Author's colleagues, both past and present, for much constructive criticism and for their encouragement, and in particular to Mr. A. F. Hunt, now of the West of Scotland Agricultural College, who assisted with some of the preliminary work. Mention should also be made of the clerical workers without whose efforts more than 30,000 agricultural returns could not have been handled, sorted and tabulated in the various ways necessary for this report. The aerial views in centre inset were taken by Dr. J. K. St. Joseph, M.A., Ph.D. They are reproduced by kind permission of The University of Cambridge and The Air Ministry. The illustration on the cover of this book is reproduced by permission of Aero Films Ltd., and represents the steading of a Dairy Farm on the Leicestershire-Derbyshire border. Finally, the Author wishes to acknowledge the time and care which Mr. Geo. H. Green has devoted to preparing this work for printing and to checking the galley and page proofs. • 3 CONTENT8 Page Acknowledgments •••• •••• •••• •••• 3 Summary •••• •••• •••• •••• •••• 6 Chapter I Introduction •••• •••• •••• •••• •••• 10 Chapter II Review of Other Relevant Studies .... •••• 14 Chapter III Basis of Classification .... •••• •••• •••• 34 Chapter IV The General Pattern of Farming in the East Midlands .... •••• •••• •••• •••• 46 Chapter V Group 1. Dairy Farms •••• •••• •••• 59 Chapter VI Group 2. Cropping with Dairying Farms .... 75 Chapter VII Group 3A and 3B. Cropping Farms with Pigs or Poultry .... •••• •••• •••• 81 Chapter VIII Predominantly Arable Farms •••• •••• 85 Group 4. Predominantly Arable .... •••• Group 5. Predominantly Arable with Some Livestock .... •••• •••• •••• •••• Chapter IX Cropping with Livestock Farms •••• •••• 93 Group 6. Cropping with Livestock of Some Importance • •••• •••• •••• •••• Group 7. Cropping with Livestock of Con- siderable Importance .... •••• •••• Chapter X Group 8. Livestock Farms .... •••• •••• 101 Chapter XI Group 9. Poultry Farms •••• •••• •••• 109 Chapter XII Group 10. Market Gardens .... •••• •••• 113 Chapter XIII , Part-time, Spare-time and Other Holdings •••• 121 4 Page Chapter XIV The Area Distribution of Farming Types in the East Midlands (with a note on the Farm Management Survey Sample) •••• 126 (10 Diagrams at end of Chapter) Chapter XV Some Comparisons with the National Farm Survey of 1941 .... •••• •••• •••• 148 Chapter XVI Days of Work per 100 acres and per Person Available .... •••• •••• •••• •••• 153 Chapter XVII Conclusions •••• •••• •••• •••• •••• 161 Appendix I The Raised Sample Compared with the Agricultural Returns, June, 1947 and the Machinery Census January, 1948.... •••• •••• •••• 168 Appendix II Key between Text Tables and the Agricultural Returns June, 1947 and the Machinery Census January, 1948 •••• •••• •••• 170 Appendix III Predominant Types of Farming (with Diagrams) 172 Pocket Containing Transparency of Physical Map of East Midlands 5 SUMMARY. (1) Since Agricultural returns were first collected systematically efforts have been made to analyse and present them in ways which will add to their value. From counties and .parishes the subdivision was extended to show separately figures for holdings of various sizes and for 'grazing' and 'corn' counties. (2) From 1907 to 1911 the distinction was drawn between holdings farmed for pleasure and those farmed for profit. (3) In 1924, holdings of over 20 acres, other than poultry and fruit and vegetable farms, were . put into three groups — arable, pasture and mixed—and separate details of cropping and stocking given for each. (4) A new approach to the problem was made in Buckinghamshire between 1935 and 1938 when farms were classified as full-time, part- time or spare-time after a study of the occupier's main occupation. (5) The National Farm Survey of 1941 used the same basis of classification of occupiers by economic type. It also grouped farms according to Type of Farming Area as defined in 1939 by the Land Utilisation Survey in the preparation of its Types of Farming Map. There is evidence that in many instances farmers classified as part- time actually occupied full-time farms. (6) In Scotland, farms have been classified by economic type without reference to the occupier's occupation. This classification was based on the data contained in the 1947 Agricultural Returns. (7) This report describes a similar classification of holdings in the East Midlands Province of England and Wales. The procedure was as follows :— (A) Holdings were designated full-time, part-time or spare- time on the basis of the estimated labour requirements of their crops and stock. (B) Specialist holdings were segregated. (C) Holdings with less than 25 per cent of their crops and grass acreage devoted to sale crops were divided into (i) Dairy farms. (ii) Livestock farms. 6 (D) From holdings with more than 25 per cent of their acreage of crops and grass devoted to sale crops the two following types were removed. (i) Cropping with Dairying. (ii) Cropping with Pigs or Poultry. (E) The remaining farms were divided between those with :— (i) Over 50 per cent of acreage under crops for sale. (Predominantly Arable). and (ii) 25-50 per cent of acreage under crops for sale. (Cropping with Livestock). (F) Those in (E) (i) were then divided into two groups:— (i) less than 20 livestock units per 100 acres. (Predominantly Arable). and (ii) more than 20 livestock units per 100 acres. (Predominantly Arable with Some Live- stock). (G) Those in (E) (ii) were also divided into two groups less than 25 livestock units per 100 acres. (Cropping with Livestock of Some Import- ance). and (ii) more than 25 livestock units per 100 acres. (Cropping with Livestock of Considerable Importance). (H) Other holdings. These consist of a residue of holdings which could not be placed in any of the categories listed above. (8) Only 61 per cent of all holdings can be regarded as full-time farms but these have 95 per cent of the acreage of crops and grass, 96 per cent of the hired workers and 94 per cent of the tractors of the Province. (9) The average size of all holdings was 80 acres but full-time farms had 124 acres of crops and grass, part-time holdings 10 acres and spare-time holdings four acres. (10) One third of all full-time farms were Dairy farms. Pre- dominantly Arable farms made up a further one sixth but there were few specialist farms. The remainder, just over two fifths, could be regarded as 'mixed' farms. (11) For each type a description has been given of the distribution of farms between counties and size groups, of the employment of labour, of the use of land and of the carry of livestock. (12) An analysis has been made of the age of heifers at first calving on Dairy farms and of the extent to which Dairy farms of various sizes are able to grow feeding stuffs for their livestock. (13) As farm size increases the proportion of land under permanent grass declines and so does the intensity of livestock carry. Large farms have proportionately more cattle and sheep and fewer pigs and poultry than small farms. (14) Farms below 25 acres have a distinctive pattern of land use and livestock carry but there is comparatively little difference between the organisation of farms between 25 and 100 acres and that of larger farms. (15) The study of Livestock farms has drawn attention to a number of farms in Derbyshire which specialise in the rearing of dairy herd replacements. (16) The agricultural statistics suggest that the Province is a net importer of store cattle and that Dairy farms have a small net surplus of cattle for disposal to other farms. (17) The distribution of the various types of farms has been illustrated with dot diagrams. These show that although certain types are predominant in many areas farms of different types are closely intermingled. There is no evidence that a distinct soil type such as the Nottinghamshire Forest Sand supports any distinctive type of farm. (18) It is shown that many Types of Farming are found within each Type of Farming Area but in many Areas certain Types of Farming are clearly predominant. (19) The East Midlands Farm Management Survey sample has been examined in the light of the information available about Types of Farming and Type of Farming Areas. Important differences have been noted and it is suggested that the objectives and methods of sampling require examination and definition. 8 (20) The results of this classification have been compared with those of the National Farm Survey. It has been shown that part- time farmers do not necessarily occupy part-time farms. For some purposes this distinction may be of considerable importance. Part- time holdings over 5 acres in size in the National Farm Survey averaged 49 acres in size and in this classification 13 acres. (21) Comparisons have been made between different types and sizes of farms of the labour requirements per 100 acres, persons available and the work performance per person.

Load more