From the collection of
Established in 1992, the South West Film & Television Archive collection spans from 1893 to the present day containing more than 250,000 items. Formed from a variety of depositors, including broadcast news and programmes material from the Westward and TSW archive. In 2018 the archive collection transferred to The Box in Plymouth.
Wartime Farmers aim for self-sufficiency in North Devon's Heanton
Step back in time as our Heanton farmers gather the hay harvest. Shire horses plough the fields and prepare the ground for crop planting, mechanised and traditional methods are used to ensure yield. British farmers had to meet the demands of the Ministry of Food during the Second World War. Rationing became part of 1940s life and included farming communities. This film portrays farm life at a time when pressures to increase production were growing.
The Second World War had a vast impact on agriculture and production methods throughout Britain. The Ministry of Food was formed on 8 September 1939 and became the sole importer and buyer of food into Britain, guaranteeing farmers an increasing market for home-grown produce. The goal was self-sufficiency. Recruitment for the Women's Land Army began in 1940 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries with at its peak 80,000 members. Together with the Women's Timber Corps they helped meet growing home demand not just for food but also oil, materials, metal and wood.
Keeping the nation fed and healthy was the greatest priority of the Home Front. Women replaced absent farm workers, while ordinary Britons were exhorted to 'grow their own'.
'Dig for Victory' was perhaps the most successful official campaign of the Home Front. Britons in their millions picked up their trowels, and acre after acre of parkland, waste ground - even back gardens - was repurposed as makeshift vegetable plots. Just as the factories were constantly increasing their productivity, great efforts were made to increase agricultural yields, while the 'land girls' of the Women's Land Army enthusiastically took the place of farmworkers fighting overseas.
