The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Devonian Farm Life in Wartime Heanton
Wartime Farmers aim for self-sufficiency in North Devon's Heanton
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Overview
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.
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