Agricultural History Review, Volume 44 Part 1 (1996), pp. 63–87

Silage is now the most common way for grass to be conserved as winter fodder. It has become so only within the last twenty years, but this is the culmination of a process which has been going on since about 1880 in Britain. The technique was introduced into this country from continental Europe in the early 1880s, and generated much interest in the wet summers of that decade, to the point where official reports were written upon it and detailed statistics collected which make it possible to assess the extent of its penetration into general fainting practice. Thereafter interest dwindled for twenty years, to be revived during and after the First World War, and especially during the Second World War. From the 1940s onwards it is possible to make estimates of national production, which demonstrate gradual adoption until the 1970s, when the rate of adoption increased dramatically. The technical and economic changes which produced these wanings and w,xxings of interest in silage are discussed, and the conclusions which can be drawn from this case study for the adoption of innovations in agriculture are considered. The most important point to emerge 

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