Iron Harvests of the Field
The Making of Farm Machinery in Britain Since 1800
Published on 1. April 2008
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-1-85936-180-1 (ISBN)
Description
In many ways this book tells a familiar story in British industry: of innovation and enterprise in the early decades ...of worldwide dominance at a time when Britain was the workshop of the world ...of wars and economic downturns ...of foreign competition ...and of relative and absolute decline on the path of - de-industrialisation in the latter part of the twentieth century. For most of this period the farm machine industry grew and matured. It is an inspiring story of technological achievement and of industrial success, as farmers and engineers brought iron and steel to fields which had - previously been the domain of locally made timber implements and power provided by horses.Agricultural technology moved on, inexorably, from broad-cast seed and the sound of the threshing flail, via the portable steam engine and the threshing machine, right through to the modern world of giant tractors - each with the power of 200 horses - combine harvesters and - impressively efficient farming methods.This book traces the broad sweep of the whole industry over 200 years, looking at many individual companies and products to explain how and why the farm machinery industry developed in the way it did.
Important individual machines are described and illustrated in detail. The British farm machine industry is unlikely ever again to be large by world standards, nor to dominate the world stage as once it did. Yet the author traces a rich vein of innovation, enterprise and technological inspiration, often taking place within the large number of relatively small-scale, craft-based workshops which were so prevalent in the early decades. Rather than mere manufacturing, therefore, perhaps it is this tradition of technical innovation and invention which marked out the British farm machinery industry for historical greatness, and perhaps it is this tradition which will continue to mark it out in the future.
Important individual machines are described and illustrated in detail. The British farm machine industry is unlikely ever again to be large by world standards, nor to dominate the world stage as once it did. Yet the author traces a rich vein of innovation, enterprise and technological inspiration, often taking place within the large number of relatively small-scale, craft-based workshops which were so prevalent in the early decades. Rather than mere manufacturing, therefore, perhaps it is this tradition of technical innovation and invention which marked out the British farm machinery industry for historical greatness, and perhaps it is this tradition which will continue to mark it out in the future.
Reviews / Votes
'With careful, scholarly analysis, author Peter Dewey - a lecturer in economic history at Royal Holloway, University of London - has pieced together a remarkable portrait of the development of the entire farm machinery industry ... Information flows from every page - and the budding student of agrarian economy and modern agri-business will be delighted by the graphs and tables which chart machinery exports. There are astonishing details of the men who pioneered the radical changes in the way food was harvested and brought to the population and the archive photographs and illustrations of everything British farm machinery history from Canadian Auto-Trucks to the 1958 Massey Ferguson trailed dung spreader are a delight ... This is a book of solid academic quality, but which will also fascinate the general reader who has an enquiring mind ... Mr Dewey deserves enormous praise for his landmark publication.From the review in Tractor and Machinery, July 2008[This] is the work of the mature historian, combining economic and business insight with a deep understanding of the practical aspects of the agricultural machinery industry and its role in the success of British farming over the past two centuries. It is a work of considerable scholarship tempered with agreeable lucidity.Based substantially on archive material from repositories the length and breadth of Britain, Iron Harvests leads us chronologically from the efforts of the wheelwright and carpenter of the late eighteenth century through to the creators of the behemoths stalking the fields of modern-day Britain. As he describes each generation of new machinery, with specific examples being covered in some detail, Dewey is careful to set developments alongside the national and international economic background and changes in the fortunes of the home-based agricultural economy. Indeed, one of the book's great strengths is its success in explaining the sometimes subtle relationships between technological change, social conditions and the relative success or failure of the many agricultural engineering firms whose beginnings lay in the industrial foment of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries ...Dr Dewey has produced a tour de force which is unlikely to be bettered in the near future. His beautifully illustrated and scholarly book is a major achievement. Whether they sip it like a good wine and savour it in small amounts, or swallow it whole like a Galway oyster, a generation of agricultural, economic, business and urban historians will benefit from Dewey's efforts.from the review in Agricultural History Review, by R. J. MOORE-COLYER Aberystwyth UniversityMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lancaster
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 243 mm
Width: 169 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-85936-180-1 (9781859361801)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Peter Dewey graduated from the universities of Exeter and Reading, and became a lecturer in economic history at Royal Holloway, University of London, in 1974, retiring as Emeritus Reader in 2002. He was awarded the T.S. Ashton Prize by the Economic History Society in 1975 and the Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society in 1979. He was the Secretary of the British Agricultural History Society from 1998 to 2002. He has published extensively in leading history journals, and has two previous books to his credit: British Agriculture in the First World War (Routledge, 1989), and War and Progress: Britain 1914-45 (Longman, 1996), a volume in the Longman Economic and Social History of Britain series.
Content
List of tables ix Preface and acknowledgements xi 1 The origins of an industry, 1750A-1820 1The agricultural revolution 1Farming implements before 1800 4The technological revolution 9The entrepreneurs and their businesses 11The primacy of East Anglia 15Conclusion 18 2 Towards a national market, 1820A-1850 19The economic background 19The agricultural background 20Growth of the industry 23Products and technical change 28Transport developments 32Sales and marketing 35 3 At the works around 1850 39The growth of the factories 39Work in the factory 45Conclusion 49 4 A brief supremacy, 1850A-1875 50The expansion of the home market 50Technical and product change 51Steam Power I: Evolution of the portable engine 52The spread of the threshing machine 57Steam Power II: The steam plough 58Reaping machines 66Mowing machines 70Improved field machinery 73The growth and prosperity of firms 79Marketing 81The rise of the export trade 87Conclusion 91 5 Exports to the rescue, 1875A-1913 92Problems in the home market 92The shift to exports 94Marketing, agents and overseas depots 97The rise of North American competition 98The last export boom 101Conclusions 103 6 A mature industry, 1875A-1913 104The rise of some firms and the fall of others 104Specialisation in steam 112Portable engines 113Ploughing engines 115New products 120Dairy machinery 120Internal combustion engines 123Tractors 126The legal framework, scale of production, and profits 131Conclusion 136 7 At the works in 1913 137Expansion and the larger factory 137Work in the factory c.1913 141Labour conditions and trade unions 142Masters and men 146 8 Dynasties around 1914 147Founding families 147Local influence and social responsibilities 150Gracious living for the third generation? 152Conclusion 156 9 War work, 1914A-1918 157The background 157Government armament contracts 157Labour during the war 162The loss of exports and overseas assets 164Profits and taxes 166The agricultural market and the food production programme 169Fears for the future 178 10 A new world, 1919A-1939 183The boom of 1918A-19 and the slump of 1920A-23 183The collapse of export markets 187Attempts at restructuring the industry 191Changing patterns of demand at home 200The search for new products 206Diversification saves some firms 212Fordson, Ferguson and the revival of the market 214Conclusion 224 11 War work again, 1939A-1945 225Early preparations 225New opportunities in agriculture A- Plough for Victory 228Tractors 228Other machinery 232Government regulation and control 233Loss of export markets 241Armament work 242Imports and Lend-Lease 244Profits and taxes 247The industry in 1945 250 12 A very brief supremacy, 1945A-1973 254The new post-war world and the long economic boom 254Post-war readjustment 255Agricultural policy and prosperity 256The tractor boom 258Growth and structure of the industry 269New opportunities, new products 274The export boom 284Conclusion 286 13 Coping with the competition, 1973A-2000 288The new economic environment: deindustrialisation 288Changes in home demand 290The industry's output 291The maturity of the market 293New products and new versions of old products 295Tractors 295Field machinery 300Changes in the global machinery business 302The rise of foreign competition 304Readjustment and restructuring 306The industry at the end of the twentieth century 312 14 Retrospect 315Long-term factors in the development of the industry: technical change, demand and entrepreneurship 315A part of the British economic decline? 319Conclusion: a story of continuing change 321 Notes and references 323 Bibliography 338 Index 345