impact on agriculture Flashcards
The British government decided Britain had to produce more home-grown food as they weren’t self-sufficient enough
In any one week, home produced food could only feed the Scottish population for the equivalent of 2 days, for the other 5 days in a week food had to come from abroad
The government promoted self-sufficiency
Through DORA, the government gave local councils the authority to bring more land under cultivation
It was not enough, the amount of arable land in Scotland only increased by 5%
The main contribution from Scottish agriculture to the war effort was sheep farming
There was full employment and high wages
From 1916, the government bought all wool from Scottish sheep farmers to produce army blankets and uniforms
There was an increase in mechanisation in Scottish farming
as thousands of farm horses were taken for war effort 2000 tractors were imported from the USA to Scotland
By the end of 1917, people began to fear that the country was running out of food
food prices continued to rise which became a serious concern
The risk of discontent and demonstrations that would have hindered the war effort also rose
Farming went into decline partly due to foreign competition
Cheap foreign imports of food like refrigerated meat from Argentina entered Britain and Scots were unable to gain the international markets back
The government stopped all financial help to farmers in 1921
This occurred at the same time prices for agricultural good fell
In Scotland, the number of men working in agriculture fell from 33,283 in 1913 to 26,344 in 1926
The government encouraged voluntary rationing
The government used propaganda such as ‘Eat less Wheat, Save the Fleet’ and Meatless Days to encourage people to eat less and not waste food
These measures failed as wealthy people could always afford to and have access to food but the working class were unable to find or afford higher prices
There was a shortage of farm workers as so many Scottish men were volunteering
The Government created the Women’s Land Army to encourage female farm workers and created recruitment posters that showed farm work as ‘easy’ and even enjoyable
Scots woman weren’t fooled and they knew farm work was difficult, physically demanding with very long hours and low pay
In January 1918, the Ministry of Food decided to introduce rationing
Full-scale rationing was in place in April 1918. After the war, sugar and butter remained rationed until 1920.
10 agriculture points
-home-grown food
-self sufficiency
-sheep farming
-fear food shortage
-farming decline
-gov stop financial help
-voluntary rationing
-introduce rationing
- womens land army
