Agricultural History Review, Volume 66 Part 1 (2018), pp. 93–111

This article attempts to evaluate the significance of pig and poultry production on holdings of less than one acre in the UK during the Second World War. Since most of these holdings were owned or managed by people who did not identify themselves as farmers, they are termed ‘household’ producers, and many of them were found in urban areas. The article examines the reasons why such producers were encouraged to engage in pig and poultry production, and the difficulties they encountered in doing so. It concludes that, from a low base, their output increased rapidly, so that by the end of the war it accounted for a significant proportion of national egg and pig-meat supplies. The article also briefly examines some of the myths that subsequently developed around this form of production. 

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