A Farmer's Boy

When it comes to training the post-war generation of farmers, this agricultural college in Devon looks to reap what it sows.

From mangelwurzels to Bordeaux mixture to sheep dipping, there can be few careers as diverse as agriculture. This film tries to show that a life in farming is earned rather than inherited, as even this natural born farmer is packed off to school to earn his stripes. Seale-Hayne agricultural college near Newton Abbot in Devon opened for students in 1919 and, as can be seen, pushed farming as a science. Organic was not a watchword in a rationed post-war Britain.

This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.