Every so often I publish material that did not make the script of “Marsh Fen and Town”. The following is exactly 148 years ago and will possibly chime with farmers today.
The Corn Laws combined with other tariffs had been designed to protect the price of grains – in reality they protected the value of rents of land owners. However, they also made imported grains unaffordable to many. Thus we see hunger in industrialized areas and food riots and dissent. It is no accident that the anti-Corn Law league was founded in Manchester, as it had seen the price of hunger paid for by the poor in the Peterloo massacre that was barely mentioned in English history books until the 21st century. The Irish potato famine further exasperated a situation of further unrest that was not only a risk to the Union but also the government and monarchy of the time. Whilst the Corn Laws were repealed in 1846 it happened on a staggered basis.
By 1876 British agriculture was starting to be left behind as farming on a massive scale was opened up in America and Canada with increased mechanization of agriculture in both those countries. Similarly there were huge amounts of grain produced in Russia at very low cost due to the large scale and the low cost of peasant labour. Free Trade to prevent hunger in the Industrialized Britain was the perfect storm for British Agriculture. On top of this influx of cheap corn was the produce of the British Empire that mostly enjoyed free trade already. People often think that hunger is created by shortage of food, in reality it is caused by the lack of affordability of food.
Please read the following and I will then highlight some of the items that I feel chime to farming in 2024.
“SPALDING, AUGUST 22. 1876. At this season of the year, surrounded on every side as we are in Lincolnshire by the fruits of the earth, it may not be inappropriate to make some remarks on the harvest, and, in connection with that question, the subject of corn growing generally.
It is an undoubted fact that during the past few years agriculture has become as much science as any of the other occupations which have long since been so recognised. The introduction of machinery into the tillage of the soil and the ingathering of the corn harvest has changed most thoroughly the whole system of farming. The increased wages previously obtained by mechanics and artisans had placed them in a superior position to farm labourers, and it was a long time before Hoouk[i] found it advisable to move from the sphere in which his predecessor had lived, and avail himself of the benefits of combination[ii]. At last, however, that task was accomplished, and in order to obtain higher wages, men had to be drafted off into other districts in large numbers in order to reduce the supply.
As a natural result, agriculturists were immediately under the necessity of economising their labour bills, and at this critical juncture, the implement manufacturer stepped in with his inventions. In this latter respect it soon became evident that machinery could without difficulty be introduced into farms, especially in Lincolnshire, and with very satisfactory results. This problem once solved, as we have said, the whole system changed, and we believe we are just now in the commencement of entirely new course of cultivating the soil.
We say this advisedly. It is at all times a hazardous speculation to conjecture what may be the result of an attempt to alter any old-established system, and more especially at the critical moment when it has not had time to become consolidated and established, and thoroughly tried and tested by experience ; but we are not expressing any new idea when we say that a new future is opening to the agriculturist. Is, then, this future a bright one? and will farming ever again be the the means of men amassing wealth, as in the past many have done ? These are questions which cannot but be of interest, especially at the present juncture.
To be a successful farmer, a man must at any time have an easy landlord, a good farm, and prosperous management. With all else in his favour it would be impossible to succeed if he did not understand the latter, which is undoubtedly the secret of good farming. But, except in cases of old-established farmers, these old associations are altogether disappearing. Land has risen enormously in value, and men speculate with it, just as they do with other commodities on Change; and rents are raised the highest pitch in order to remunerate the purchaser for the high price he has given. In the next place, the tenant has to study how best to realise from the land itself the extra money which he has been obliged to lay down for it rental. He must do this by less fallowing and a more liberal use of manure—the one, we take it, to some extent counteracting the other. He has, so to speak, to force his crops. The inherent qualities of those are insufficient for his purposes. A second rent, therefore, is involved in expenditure of money on manure, and also in the hire or purchase of machinery to work the farm—the labour market, as we shall see presently, enforcing the latter upon him. He has, therefore, to pay high rents, and his land is never in prime condition, because it is every year farmed to its fullest extent, and all its goodness taken from it. It resembles an over-worked horse, which the whip may enliven for the moment, but which cannot be motioned the same way with the animal which has its stated seasons of rest.
We have not, however, exhausted the contingencies which the present-day English farmer has to meet. For instance, there may a succession of bad seasons. If he is doing a small business, it is impossible for him to stand against these. Should his occupation be an extensive one, he may save himself by keeping a large proportion of his farm for grazing purposes; but the little farmer has neither the capital to buy stock, nor to withstand any continuance of ill luck. One leading reason for this is the great increase in wages paid on farms. Half a dozen years since, the agricultural labourer was neglected being, in some cases intelligent, but generally speaking, the least civilized of our English working men. His wants were few, necessarily, for his wages were exceedingly small; but rose Joseph Arch and his followers, and in the course of a few years, the aspect has entirely changed.
Labour knows its own value ; and we may say that in the harvest of 1875, it stepped beyond that, and over-estimated it. At events, it now becomes very serious item in the year’s accounts of a well managed farm. We need not travel further into the minutie of expenditure: it is well known, in every branch of trade, that large margin is always left for unexpected losses and liabilities.
Let us for a moment look at the other side of the question. We have seen that the process of producing corn is much more expensive one than formerly: will the other side of the ledger show an increase? Of course, if this were so there would be little room for complaining. But unfortunately, so far as our experience goes, it is just the opposite. Corn was seldom so cheap as it has been in the last twelve months, and, that at a time, when, if any, it ought to have been selling at a very high rate. On the one hand, therefore, the farmer produces at an enhanced cost; on the other hand he sells at depreciated value. Of course the effect of this must be either entirely ruinous, where the agriculturist has no money to work upon; or it must very seriously lessen the possibility of money making, even suppose the farmer be moderately successful.
The secret of this is undoubtedly our system of Free Trade, which allows foreign growers to place in our markets an equal amount at a cheaper rate. So long as this continues, we cannot expect our farmers to tend soil; - corn at high figures, for the producing power outside this kingdom is unlimited, and the supply will always be large enough, in the worst of seasons, to keep our prices down. It only remains, therefore, for owners to check the system which now seems to extending itself of letting land for short terms at exorbitant rents, and in all cases where practicable, to cultivate the land to more profitable uses.
There can be no doubt that, unless some change occur, and at present there is no probability of anything of the kind, the corn produced in England will become much less in bulk, and the supply develop itself chiefly into imports; and the English farms become more extensively laid down for grazing purposes and the raising of root crops. When that time may arrive, we may once more anticipate being able to buy meat at less than the present famine prices, and the general public will be advantaged by the change, though we cannot say that there will ever again be the prospect of any few individuals amassing huge heaps of wealth from the cultivation of the soil.”
I note the following:
“At last, however, that task was accomplished, and in order to obtain higher wages, men had to be drafted off into other districts in large numbers in order to reduce the supply.” - arable farming had such costs of rent, machinery etc. that it could not compete on wages. There had been some reform of agricultural wages thanks to a movement led by Joseph Arch – early unionisation of agricultural labour. Labour migrated to industrial areas and into areas of better pay, in Lincolnshire’s case Yorkshire.
“it soon became evident that machinery could without difficulty be introduced into farms, especially in Lincolnshire, and with very satisfactory results” – This is an argument that is very current with “robots” the much heralded saviours of our time, even if they are not yet!
“Is, then, this future a bright one? and will farming ever again be the the means of men amassing wealth, as in the past many have done ?” – Farmers ask the same question today. The reality for many is that it does not see wealth accumulate. Indeed, the pattern is often that if they are lucky enough to own land the value of that has generally increased, but typically been matched by increased costs, increased working capital requirements and increased debt. Thus the farmer often enters the treadmill without seeing a real increase in wealth.
“To be a successful farmer, a man must at any time have an easy landlord, a good farm, and prosperous management.” - This is still true today. The subsequent words in this papargraph describe how land has become an asset to be speculated upon undoing the chances of an “easy landlord”. Indeed, today speculation is likely to undermine farming business itself as increasingly people see it as an opportunity for “green” speculation that undermines the very presence of farming activity.
“We have not, however, exhausted the contingencies which the present-day English farmer has to meet. For instance, there may a succession of bad seasons. If he is doing a small business, it is impossible for him to stand against these.” – this is being lived by many farmers in 2024.
“Labour knows its own value ; and we may say that in the harvest of 1875, it stepped beyond that, and over-estimated it.” – in 2024 a combination of Brexit, Covid and cost of living increases has seen wage increases across much of the food and farming industry.
“The secret of this is undoubtedly our system of Free Trade, which allows foreign growers to place in our markets an equal amount at a cheaper rate. So long as this continues, we cannot expect our farmers to tend soil;” – a similar Free Trade argument exists today that stretches across all livestock and produce. However today it increasingly looks at non-price differences that affect costs such as difference in how livestock is reared, environmental, ecological, animal welfare standards and the like.
“England will become much less in bulk, and the supply develop itself chiefly into imports; and the English farms become more extensively laid down for grazing purposes and the raising of root crops.” – the concern for security of supply and change is valid today. Theses words almost echoe my statement “It is highly likely that it will not be economically viable to grow wheat on low grade 2 land or lower in the UK within the next five years.” In September 2021 (see connected posts).
By 1900 the Admiralty were giving warnings of national food security that were largely ignored. The subsequent blockade of Britain by German U-boats in WW1 saw these fears come to fruition. There is so much of this that has similarities to today!
[i] “Hoouk” is thought to refer to farmers that had moved from silt marshland of Kent to establish larger farms. There was an influx of tenant farmers from both Kent and the Midlands and elsewhere into Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk before this period seeking to improve themselves on larger holdings.
[ii] “combination” Mechanical cutting and threshing of grain.
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