Agricultural History Review, Volume 61 Part 1 (2013), p. 177

Alec Douet’s account explores the transformation of Norfolk farming from the onset of the ‘Great War’ up to the eve of Britain’s entry into the EEC in 1973. Norfolk was widely regarded as one of the foremost farming counties in England, not only during the agricultural transformation of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, but was also influential in the agricultural revolution which took place in the second half of the twentieth century. The text is based on a variety of secondary and primary sources complemented by more than fifty interviews with the county’s leading agriculturalists.

Divided into three distinct sections dealing with the First World War and the inter-war depression, the impact of the Second World War up to 1947, and the post-war period up to 1972, it provides an informative critique of the changes which have taken place during this crucially important period.

The first section provides an informative insight into how the innate conservatism of farmers was one of the main reasons for the slow pace of change prior to the onset of the Second World War. Of particular merit is its perceptive evaluation of the vitally important role which sugar beet played in transforming Norfolk farming, the continued reliance on horses, as well as exploring why cow keeping as opposed to arable farming was so despised.

In contrast, the impact of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath receives less attention. A more detailed comparative analysis at this point would have revealed that Norfolk was not, as implied, at the forefront of the wartime ploughing-up campaign. The most evaluative section deals with the post-war period, when good use is made of the interviews with the county’s leading agriculturalists, although the section relating to Bernard Matthews comes across as something of a eulogy.

In general, it provides a valuable and pertinent study into the stages and mechanisms that were responsible for the transformation from horse power and labour-intensive farming to capital-intensive scientific farming. It is at its best when analysing the local variations which exist within the county, and its evaluation of the mechanisms which ensured that, what was once a undercapitalized debt-ridden agricultural industry, became a business activity, focusing for the most part on a low-cost, medium-output system of production.

The account is not fully in accordance with the title of the book, which suggests that it is providing a new perspective on the agricultural transformation of Norfolk. Another reservation is its rather limited contextual analysis, in particular the way this local study fits with the transformation of agriculture that was taking place both nationally and in other regions of Britain. It also has the tendency to skirt around many of the key debates, with frequent references to quotations from various mixed sources. From an academic point of view, the main weakness is the lack of endnotes or footnotes to reference the sources cited in the text. This can be rather infuriating as some authors have multiple books and articles against their names in the bibliography, and it is not always clear to which particular source Douet is referring.

Some of the comments on the work output of particular machines are not only very optimistic but, in some instances, far-fetched, for example, his claim on p. 133 that the Massey Harris drill was capable of planting eight acres an hour. His claim on p. 224 that the four-wheel-drive Roadless 115 tractor could plough 22 acres per hour is a gross exaggeration. The contents page merits revision, not only in terms of the spelling mistake in the title of one of the chapters, but also because the titles of chapters 11 and 12 are not in accordance with those denoted here. The criticisms are relatively minor, and do not tarnish significantly the value of the text.

Taking into account that it was not written primarily written for an academic audience, it will be of considerable interest, relevance and value to those who have an interest in this region. The book contains a pertinent, well-selected collection of photographs to illustrate the main developments. It contributes to enhancing our understanding of the more recent development of a county, which historically had played a key role in pioneering the agricultural revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.