Impact On Agriculture

Topic 5: Impact On Agriculture

The Second World War also had an impact on agriculture in Lincolnshire.

In 1941 the government undertook the National Farm survey, effectively assuming control of agricultural strategy across the country. The main thrust of the strategy was providing sufficient resources for the war effort, but in Lincolnshire it had the particular problem of balancing the requisitioning of land for military uses, such as airfields, with the need for increased production of wood, food and carbohydrates for the production of explosives.

Unproductive small holdings were merged into larger farms, and the Dig for Victory movement put a large quantity of previously unproductive land into use for growing food, including formal gardens and sports fields. Whilst most of these were recovered to their original use after the war, many remained changed forever.

Land girls on a Lincolnshire farm at the end of a working day in 1940. (Photo: The Catherine Procter Collection)