Agricultural Policies

From peasant subsistence to ‘feeding the nation’, British agriculture has undergone many changes and been subjected to the government’s agricultural policies ever since it was recognised that the food supply affected the ability to wage war. The so-called Corn Laws were an early example of protecting the livelihoods of farmers from cheaper imported grain but these were repealed in 1846, a time when common land was allowed to be gobbled up completely by the large landowners and a potato famine drew mass Irish immigration into Britain.

What followed was a 25-year Golden Age of British farming. Then, competition from huge American farms and elsewhere, entering via the new steamships and railways, severely tested the free trade principle. After WW2, government subsidies were finally brought in and have remained in one form or another.

During our 1973-2020 membership of the EEC/EU the Common Agricultural Policy superseded any UK ideas of regulating domestic agriculture and fisheries. Intensification and specialisation were encouraged and no limits were put on output, resulting in European ‘butter mountains’ and ‘wine lakes’, for instance. Since then, environmental and conservation concerns have played a large role in shaping policies administered by DEFRA. Inheritance tax changes are currently (12/2024) being protested by farmers.

(Image: Peter Whatley at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)