![Sample our Geography journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5937/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Geography.jpg"})
Abstract
Building on recent analyses of ‘heterogenous agri-cultures’ this paper considers the potential of an oral history approach to explore the geographies of farming cultures and the processes of agricultural and landscape change. Drawing on case studies from the Peak District and Devon (UK) the paper advocates a less mechanistic methodological approach that taps into oral histories and offer a more nuanced appreciation of this change ‘from the ground’. The understandings embedded within these oral histories are investigated with attention given to how these may contribute to recent discussions of the role of farmers’ knowledge(s) in the current and future management of the countryside.
Cet article s'inscrit dans le cadre des travaux récents sur les ‘agri-cultures hétérogènes’ et examine le potentiel d'une démarche d'histoire orale pour l'exploration des géographies des cultures agricoles et des processus de modification de l'agriculture et du paysage. S'appuyant sur des études de cas menées dans le Peak District et au Devon (R-U), cet article plaide en faveur d'une approche méthodologique moins mécaniste qui permet d'exploiter les histoires orales et d'offrir une meilleure compréhension de cette modification ‘à partir du terrain’. Les savoirs enracinés dans ces histoires orales sont étudiés en considérant en particulier le rôle joué par les connaissances des agriculteurs dans les discussions récentes sur la gestion actuelle et future de la campagne.
Añadiendo al reciente análisis de ‘agriculturas heterogéneas’ este papel considera la posibilidad de un enfoque basado en historia oral para explorar las geografías de culturas agrícolas y los procesos de cambio en la agricultura y en el paisaje. Haciendo uso de estudios de caso del Peak District y de Devon (Reino Unido) el papel propone un enfoque metodológico menos mecanicista que incorpore la historia oral y ofrezca una nueva apreciación de este cambio ‘desde abajo’. Investigamos los entendimientos presentes en estas historias orales, destacando cómo éstos pueden contribuir a recientes debates sobre el rol de los conocimientos de los agricultores en la gestión, tanto actual como futura, del paisaje rural.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the AHRC (Innovation Award: R15611) and the University of Nottingham who funded the research projects from which this paper is taken. They would also like to thank conference participants at the University of Exeter and University of York where earlier drafts of this paper were presented, and to the editor and anonymous referees for their very constructive comments.
Notes
1 See, for example, Cosgrove (Citation1984), Cosgrove and Daniels (Citation1988), Duncan (Citation1995) and Matless (Citation1998).
2 Although, as our later examples will illustrate, these oral traditions become inextricably linked with, and drawn upon in, the life histories of respondents.
3 Burgess (Citation1984: 126) has termed this ‘topical autobiography’.
4 Moving towards a fuller understanding of these relationships, a number of studies have employed in-depth qualitative methodologies (e.g. Burgess, Clark and Harrison Citation2000; McHenry Citation1997), with some particularly insightful ethnographic studies (Gray Citation1996; McEachern Citation1992). A wide range of different issues have been considered, including that of precision farming (Tsouvalis, Seymour and Watkins Citation2000) and global warming (Holloway Citation1999).
5 Since the publication of Howkins’ paper there have been a few more studies which have begun to reconsider the history of rural areas in the Second World War period (see e.g. Martin Citation2000).
6 Interesting inferences to these issues can, however, be found in the more numerous studies considering the role of the Women's Land Army (see e.g. Powell and Westacott Citation1997; Tryer Citation1996).
7 In addition to their conservation within the UK's main agri-environment programmes, smaller projects have been initiated to investigate the feasibility of re-instituting hay meadows through seed reintroduction (Jones Citation2001).
8 These were based on land classification mapping (see MAFF Citation1997) with six parishes considered in the Peak District and five broader areas focused on in the Devon Study (see Riley Citation2003; Riley and Harvey Citation2005 for a fuller discussion of these practical issues).
9 The interviews were recorded using a minidisc recorder, transcribed verbatim and coded manually (after Seale and Kelly Citation1998).
10 Some scholars (see e.g. Gluck and Patai Citation1991; Kindon Citation2003) have considered the use of video recording of interviews, which would have obvious applications to an approach similar to this in recording non-verbal elements.
11 War Agricultural Executive Committees who were responsible for the Second World War ‘Plough-up’ campaign (see Short, Watkins, Foot and Kinsman Citation2000).
12 This can be compared to other interviews where markers in the narrative could not be so easily reached by the interviewer from which to re-approach particular themes and issues: ‘You mentioned earlier, before we started to talk about the rationing, you mentioned a machinery pool, in the war, that had been close to here…’.
13 The National Farm Survey contains returns for individual farms and is accompanied by maps showing the holding boundaries of these farms—see Short, Watkins, Foot and Kinsman (Citation2000) for a full discussion.
14 Issues commonly questioned by farmers relating to the survey were inaccuracies in the mapping of farm boundaries and land ownership (see Harvey and Riley 2005: 23–24).
15 An interesting discussion of the pattern of mowing with tractors and the safety of birds which mirrors the issue raised by this farmer is presented by Andrews and Rebane (1994).
16 Interestingly, it is these travelling gangs that are at the centre of George Ewart Evans's (Citation1965) oral history study Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay.
17 Either when respondents were already outside when revisited and the discussion flowed on from there, or when in-the-field interviews were prearranged at the previous meeting.
18 All names of respondents have been changed.
19 This was seen in particular in the Peak District study where silage production has only become more widespread since the 1960s and which was referred to as ‘a practice of the younger generations’ and comments such as ‘hay was the only method in my day and that's why I prefer it’.
20 This was a community-based archaeological programme based at the University of Exeter and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (see Brown et al. Citation2004).
21 There are interesting narrative issues here relating to the language of ‘improving’ and ‘controlling’ the land, in which farmers who have worked under the postwar productivist ethos view nature as something to be controlled or ‘mastered’ (for interesting discussions of these issues see Burgess, Clark and Harrison Citation2000; McHenry Citation1997).
22 Within Figure , the farmer can be seen demonstrating how the ‘cut’ edge of the bale was turned outwards to deflect water, in a fashion that was similar (he argued) ‘to how the thatch is cut to turn water from the roof of a thatched cottage’.
23 Referring to the spontaneous combustion of hay (see Rothbaum Citation1963).
24 In the case of Figure the former meadow is now indistinguishable from grazed pastureland.
25 A number of commentators have referred to the heavily ‘scientised’ nature of these schemes which have been largely devised and formulated by scientific experts—see Morris (2004) for a useful discussion.
26 Phenology is the study of flowering, breeding and migration, particularly in relation to climatic conditions.
27 The Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) is a national scheme in the UK, administered by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It offers payments to farmers and land managers to enhance and conserve landscapes, their wildlife, heritage and history. The national, but broadly analogous, Environmental Stewardship Scheme superseded CSS in 2005.
28 Davies et al. (1997) argue that the controlled use of Rhinanthus minor can reduce soil nutrient levels and allow the continuation of less vigorous species and hence increase biodiversity.
29 The rationale for this practice is to ‘ensure that ground nesting birds have successfully completed their breeding season and that grasses and herbs are allowed adequate time to set seed’ (DEFRA Citation2002: 15).