Agricultural History Review, Volume 58 Part 1 (2010), pp. 95–112

Studies of British agriculture in the First World War have argued that the labour crisis was not as severe as contemporaries believed, suggesting instead that replacement labour and greater access to farm machinery helped to offset the loss of agricultural labourers to the military. However, labour reports for Devon show a shortage of both men and horses on the land by late 1915 and the County War Agricultural Committee expressed concern that the continued removal of men from the land was in conflict with the need to increase home grown food. Central to the issue was the farmers’ belief that operating a farm required a set number of men and horses. Through district boards and the Devon Farmers’ Union, local farmers negotiated manpower demands by refusing to cooperate with government agricultural directives until manpower and price guarantees could be assured. As such, this article argues that crucial changes to agriculture took place in 1916 when the pressing labour shortage forced the government to reconsider its agricultural policies. 

Complete Volume PDF