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Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay: Farm Practices, Oral History and Nature Conservation Author(s): Mark Riley Source: Oral History, Vol. 32, No. 2, Memory and Society (Autumn, 2004), pp. 45-53 Published by: Oral History Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40179798 . Accessed: 01/04/2014 03:53
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ASK

THE

FELLOWS
THE

WHO
FARM

CUT

HAY:

PRACTICES,

ORAL

HISTORYAND
by Mark Riley

NATURE CONSERVAT

This article considers the value of oral history to today's discussions of nature conservation. It shows how the intimate knowledge which farmers have of theirfarms and past practices can complement sparse data sources on hay meadow decline and change. On another level the oral histories challenge official narratives of the move from hay to silage production and consider how traditional'the prescriptionsof currentconservation schemes are. The article uncovers the often underplayedsignificance of 'community' and non-financial considerations which impact on farming practice. The article concludes that with current mandates to revert to more traditional to the future land management oral historycan make a valuable contribution of British conservation the countryside.
The oft-referenced work of GeorgeEwartEvans from which the title of this article is taken is consideredamongstthe pioneeringwork of oral In his work Evansattempted historyin Britain.1 to interpret and record changing customs, workinghabitsand practicesas well as changing dialects and language. Paramountin much of Evans'work was the desire to record information about changesto farmingpractices.Evans that'In the provinceof ruralskillsand suggested crafts the oral traditionholds much of the old which is worthpreserving', empirical knowledge but went on to suggestthat 'scientiststodayare of anyclaimthe old knowledge usuallyimpatient has worth'.2Although Evans viewed the main valueof the oralmaterialhe collectedas lyingin their simple recording of past practices, this article attempts to illustrate how similar oral historiesmay play a significantrole in contemporary nature conservation. While there is a conspicuousabsenceof work on environmental whichhas drawn historyandnatureconservation on personalexperienceand collective memory, that brought together by Stephen Hussey and PaulThompsonhas startedthe processof filling the roleof oralhistoryin this void by considering accounting for the origins of environmental concern.5Throughfocusing on haymakingand hay meadow management,the following paper articulatesthe possible policy relevanceof such studies, demonstratinghow much of the informationwhich conservations currently requireto conservebiodiversehay meadowsresides,often in the oral testimoniesof farmers.4 exclusively,

ABSTRACT|
KEYWORDS: Environmental history; hay meadows; agriculture; farming practices; nature conservation

Autumn2004 ORAL HISTORY 45

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Hay meadows have become a conservation issue after their decline in number and diversity over the last 50 years.

HAY MEADOW DECUNE Until the latter part of the twentieth century haymakingwas the dominant form of fodder conservation within the UK. Technological developments within agriculture in post-war Britain, in particular the refinement of silage making,coupledwith governmental supportfor intensive agriculturemore generally,has led to an overall decrease in the practice of haymaking.5During the 1980s the significanceof such changes to managementpractices was seen to be a drasticreductionin the botanicaldiversity of meadows.6 concernfor this loss Subsequently in botanicaldiversityand the associatedeffects on faunahas led to hay meadows beingdeemed worthy of preservation under contemporary schemes as well as the instiagri-environment for theirreintroduction.7 gation of programmes The researchdocumentedin this articlewas conductedin the Peak DistrictNationalParkin the UK, a location highlightedas a target area for the conservation of upland hay meadows, and where researchinto the conservationof hay meadows is in progress.8 In total, 62 interviews were conductedwith farmers which focussedon their histories of hay production and the agri-

culturalhistory of their farms, as well as their attitudesand opinionson the currentconservation efforts. These oral histories were supplemented with participant observation of the haymaking processon twentyfarms.Thisparticipant observation,as JohnEyles has suggested, offered the advantageof allowing an examination of what people do as well as what they say.9 This was importantfor the study in two ways. of informaFirst,it facilitatedthe triangulation tion gained from the oral historieson the same farms. So for example, where farmersin their interviewshad talkedabout the orderin which meadows were mown, this was clarifiedduring participantobservation.Second, it allowed an appreciation of activities that could not be verbalisedwell in an interviewsuch as patterns of mowing, and the assigningand assumingof tasks and roles. ORATINGTHEUNKNOWN Despite the general acceptance that there has been a decline in the gross areaof landused for hay production, the UK Biodiversity Group notes that there is no definitivedata on actual has suggestedthat loss.10 IndeedTim Blackstock

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'Locating,describingand evaluatingthe dwindling cover has been a major challenge for It is herethatoralhistorycan conservationists'.11 make a valuablecontributionto the discussion The researchconfirmed of natureconservation. the finding of JudithTsouvaliset al who have referred to the 'intimate knowledges' which farmershave of their land - something which will be discussed in more detail later in the As a mixeddairyand sheep farmerwho paper.12 had farmedhis current,150 acre holdingall his life noted: I knoweveryinchof this land.I havefarmed it man and boy and can tell you everylump, bumpand bird'snest over it.15 Althoughnot all responses illustratedsuch an encyclopaedic recall of information the majoritydemonstrateda very close affinity to in somedetailthe locationof theirland,recalling meadowsin the past and generatinga chronolpractices. ogy of the changesto theirhaymaking In terms of the development of hay meadow conservationnow is the time to collect what I would refer to as these spoken environmental histories. In the case of hay meadows it is the last thirtyyearswhich has seen the most significant, and often destructive, changes to their management and there are a diminishing numberof farmerswho recallhaymaking practices priorto this period.The abilityto narrate, in some detail, past land use change is highlighted in the case of an eighty nine year old farmer who discussed the changing fate of a meadow on his farm: particular We were instructed to plough the field duringthe warandit was plantedwith potatoes. We stoppedploughingit when the war effortwas overandwent backto usingit for hay.... Three years ago my son joined the and they asked us to put it Stewardship14 in... becauseof all its flowersand herbs15 Althoughthis interviewextractwas partof a oral historyin wider theme within the farmer's which he consideredthe changingnatureof the supportsystem in the UK, it illusagricultural tratedthe veryspecificway in which such information can be of use to ecologists with an interestin the phenologyof hay meadows. The thatin this specificcase a illustrates observation meadow was able to maintain or re-establish diversityover a period of approximatelysixty years, even after complete disturbance of the sward through ploughing. The significance of such findings from oral history is accentuated when considered alongside current scientific researchinto hay meadows.Althoughthereis a

wealth of information being gleaned from detailed scientificexperiments,Roger Smith et al have suggestedthat conclusiveresultson the exact effects of management regimes on hay meadow diversity may take between ten and The oralhistoriesof farmers who twentyyears.16 have worked these meadows for a number of years can often provide the most conclusive observations on the cumulative effects of managementchangesover long time periods. Tappinginto these intimate knowledges of the land and its management also provedinformativein the discussionof past haymaking practices. A thoroughunderstanding of this past is for currentagri-environment schemes important as the intentionof theseis to 'Conserve grassland by maintaining traditional grazing and hay This allows the oral histories cuttingpatterns'.17 collected to have much wider resonance than being used simply in the positivist sense of of hay meadows. mappingthe past distribution First,a numberof the assumptionsin academic and policy circles relating to the decline and and of meadowscan be augmented management challenged.Second,the extentto which farmers underagriconsiderthe management prescribed environment schemes as 'traditional' can be assessed,somethingwhich is vitalin considering how readily these voluntary measures will be are takenup in additionto how likelythe farmers to have the necessaryskillsto implementthem. ASSUMPTIONS CHALLENGING A first narrativeprevalentin the academicand which the oral historiesdestapolicy literatures bilisedwas thatrelatingto the move fromhayto silageproduction.It has been a commonlyheld assumptionthat the move by farmersfrom the practiceof makinghay to that of makingsilage was a simple, unproblematic and rapid shift. GrahamHarveyfor examplein his polemictext has replacedthe old cultureof perennial ryegrass flower rich hay meadows... as dairy farmers Simithe new wondercropof silage'.18 embraced ActionPlanfor UplandHay larlythe Biodiversity Meadowssuggeststhattherehas been 'a general The to silageproduction'.19 shiftfromhaymaking that this move farmers'oral historiesillustrated from hay to silagewas much less rapidand less welcomed by farmers than official narratives suggest. While commentators such as Harvey takecontemporary silagemaking,with its advanand freedomfrom tages of greaterproductivity constraintsof weather,as a cue to suggest that wondercropin the embraced silagewas a readily reveala more farmers of recollections the past, complexsituation. Although silage today is associated with modern machineryand sophisticated technolAutumn2004 ORAL HISTORY 47

77*6? Killing of the Countrysidestates that 'a mono-

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ogy, the oral histories revealed that until the 1960s silage was made in a very primitive manner,with grass being piled in stacks rather than the airtightpits which have become more common recently.The difference between the oral testimonies and the assumptionsmade in the policy and academicliteratureis that silage was not seen as a preferential alternativebut as a fallbackposition in the attemptto make hay. Rather than planning to make silage as in contemporary agriculture,farmersat this time attemptedto makehayand resortedto primitive silage makingin stacks in the event of adverse weather.'Youdidn'tset out to make silage,you just ended up with somethinglike silage if it all went wrong'20 commented a farmer who has used grass stacks to salvage his grass crop duringbad weather.Anotherfarmercompared this impromptu'silage' making to his current silagemaking: It wasn't planned, not like today. It was made as hay you see, and then stackedwet if it couldn'tbe got. The grasswas long, and there was no proper pitting...It was really done out of necessity, but it wasn't really thoughtof as a viable alternativeto making hay at that time .21 The latter part of this extract points to anothervital factor which has been ignored in recent literature, the cultural attachment of farmers to the process of haymaking. One farmerspeakingof this primitiveform of silage making commented 'Well, I suppose it was silagemaking,but it was silagemakingbeforeit was fashionableto make silage'. What is interesting is that althoughsilage has more recently become synonymous with progression and modernity in farming, there was a time when farmers were judged as 'go ahead' and 'good farmers' on the basisof theirabilityto makehay; silagein these earlystageswas viewedas incompatible with such an identity.Makinghay was consideredto have been an integralpart of the role in farmingcalendarand playeda significant identityformationwithin the farmingcommunity.The following extractsare taken from the interviewswith farmersrecallingthe move from hay to silage production: I thinkit was the changereally.. .1meanfolk had been makinghay from time immemorial, and to think of doing it differently,or somethingcompletelynew was against the grain [...] Haymaking was a big part of farming, and about being a farmer. My generation were brought up making hay... .that's what summers were about...getting the hay in22
48 ORAL HISTORY Autumn2004

Haymaking was the done thing in those days.Do you knowwhat I mean?.Everyone who kept stock made hay.It was one of the biggestjobs of the year.. .one of the biggest challenges I suppose [...] I suppose you'd say that it sortedthe men from the boys.. .it certainlystood the workersfrom the shirkers. I suppose that was partlyit really,that you were trying to take a short cut... I reckonpeople thoughtthat theywere being lazy, you know, thought that they were scaredof the work involvedin haymaking23 These viewpoints uncover the often underplayed significance of more cultural factors which impingeon farmingactivities.Too often, and particularlyin the discussion of hay and silage production,economicfactorsare considof change. ered to be the primarydeterminants schemesin the UK are Indeedagri-environment based on this premise,with incentivepayments to managetheirlandin a particgivento farmers ular way. The oral histories collected illustrate make up only one that financialconsiderations part of the decision making process, and that practices are often not taken up where they conflict with existing values and past experiences. An oral historyapproachcan deepenour of such barriersand thus play a understanding significantrole in currentconservationdiscussions where it is being found that financial inducementsalone are insufficientto persuade farmersto change or alter their farmingpractices.24 AND REINVENTING UNDERSTANDING PRACTICE A more direct contributionwhich oral history makesto the discussionof hay meadowconservation is in the information provided about haymakingpractice.The first issue which will be discussedis the cuttingdate. The date when haymeadowsarecut is thoughtto havea significanteffect on meadowdiversity, with the move to earliercutting enabled by silage production The thought to have affectedflora and fauna.25 current recommendation under the EnvironmentallySensitiveAreasscheme for exampleis that meadows should not be cut before 15 July to 'ensure that ground nesting birds have successfully completed their breeding season and thatgrassesand herbsareallowedadequate time to set seed'.26 The interviews completed were important not only in givinga fullerunderstandingof farmers'opinions of such management prescriptions, but also in assessing whetherthese management prescriptions really are analogous to the 'traditional' management carriedout by farmersin the past. The first area consideredwas the argument

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thatcuttingshouldnot take place before 15 July. My aim was not to contest the preliminary researchwhich suggeststhat a latercuttingdate was beneficialto certain plant species. Rather, my intentionwas to question the validityof the implicitassumptionthat mowing after this date in the past.The followingquote was 'traditional' from a farmerwho for severalyears had made hay in Juneillustratesthis area of contention: That's the difference between what they thinkand we think.. June [conservationists] is the start of hay time, and when the weather'sright it's always like that. There's alwaysbeen hay made in June...always.27 A morethoroughunderstanding of historical cuttingdatesof haymeadowswas centralin this research, because the long-term effects of cutting variation are somewhat uncertain. Of interestwas the idea of makinghay in particular June, something which was referred to as commonplace in the past by the majority of farmersinterviewed, despite being viewed as detrimentalto meadow diversity by conservationists. Several respondents for example referred to making'sweet Junehay'.While some were uncertainin theirexact recolrespondents lection of when hay was made in June,others

were able to say with certaintythat they had, at leaston occasion,madehayin June.Variousaids to recollection were encountered. Commonly, biographical events were used in pinpointing Junehaymakingin particularyears, including personal events such as family weddings (20 respondents) and birthdays(11 respondents), and sporting events such as tennis at Wimbledon (4 respondents). Two more unique 'aide memoires'were also noted. The first involveda narrative presentedfroma tractorlog which had been completed by the farmer between 1938 and 1944 (see overleaf). Although the log was initially introduced by the farmer to illustrate mechanizationon his farm, the section recording the dates of activities confirmed that 'mowing' had been carriedout in Junefor five out of the six years recorded.A second similar recollection was supported with a personal diary.Here a meadow which a schemeecologist had apparently referred to as having 'more flower species than they'd seen before in this part of the Peak District' was reconstructedin some detail. The recollections confirmed that the meadow had been mown earlier than the recommendedmid Julycutting date more than 15 times. Althoughit is difficult,in the absence of precise species data, to determine whether this early cutting had been detrimentalto the

Gerrald Shaw in the field recalling the changes to the practice of hay-making.

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Extract from tractor log written in / 94 1 documenting mowing taking place on 1 June.

meadow'sdiversity,it can be suggestedthat the meadow had in this instancemaintaineda high level of diversity despite repeated cutting at a date earlierthan recommended. On the surface,it would seem that recollecting the orderin which hay meadowswere cut in the pastwould have littlerelevanceto the discussion of theircurrentconservation.Thatthis was untrue was noted when I was discussing the order of mowing with a dairy farmer in the South West of the Peak District. The farmer illustrated on a map the order in which he mowed each of his meadows,startingwith those closer to the farm and then moving to those further away. The order of the mowing, for several reasons, had stuck to a generally rigid patternfor the last fortyfive years.In particular, two meadows, because of their more difficult access had always been the last to be cut, and had never been mown before the end of July.28 For similarreasons of access the meadows had never received any applications of inorganic and had only sporadically receivedlight fertilizer, applications of farmyardmanure. It could be assumed therefore that these two meadows would be ideal for entry into a conservation agreement, as indeed they were in 1998. The

farmerwas however reluctantto enter more of his meadowlandinto managementagreements and used these meadows as a case in point to justify his decision. The following extract viewpoint: explainsthe farmer's We'd always mown those pieces last, and they'd never been intensified,so they were the ones that [the conservationists] were interested in when they came to look around.We put those in but I was reluctant to put any more in because I'd seen what that type of managementhad done you see. I knew that cuttingverylate let yellow rattle take hold in those two pieces... there'slittle else in themnow.The otherbits nearerhome had been cut earlieron occasion and there was never as much of the stuff in them... I had watched those two bits over the years and so could see what would happento the rest...they'dbe overrunwith rattle.29 has explored Whilerecentecologicalresearch the role of the species yellow rattle in meadow own oral historyrevealed diversity,the farmer's that he himself, through years of observation, had a prior understandingof its effects. Inter-

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estingly,although the farmersaw the effect of yellow rattle as negative, as it reduced the amount of grass species in the meadow,ecologists have highlightedthat the effects are positive in the sense of reducingsoil fertilityto allow more of the less vigorous meadow species to compete and flourish. Nonetheless, this case illustrates how throughtheirfirsthandobservations and recollections of changing practices farmers can provide important information to the discuswhich can contributesignificantly sion of hay meadowconservation. COMMUNITYIN THEHAY FIELD observaAn area highlightedby the participant was the hiddenvoices tion aspectof the research withinthe officialacademicand policynarratives of haymaking and hay meadow decline. Althoughtherewas no historyof gangs of travelling workers employed in haymaking as George EwartEvansrefersto in other areas of therewas a strongsense of commuthe country, fromthe oralhistoriesof haymaknitypresented ing.30It has been widely documented that a general problem faced by agriculture is the with the unprelinkingof labourrequirements dictabilityof the biological rhythmsof nature, is a pertinentexampleof this." and haymaking of how these fluctuationsin An understanding labourdemandshave been satisfied,both in the at present, is essenpast and more importantly of hay productionand tial to the understanding the feasibilityof its persistencefor conservation purposes. A first issue which the oral histories of broughtto lightwas the numberand haymaking diversity of people who were engaged in the haymaking process and how this has varied throughtime. When one farmerwas asked how on his farm manypeoplehelpedwith haymaking he responded that 'over the years we've had hundreds,literallyhundreds'.The farmerwent in the mid on to recallan instanceof haymaking 1960s: 'We counted 37 folk in the field helping us, we seemed to have more helpersthan bales In additionto the largenumbersof that night'.32 people drawn upon what was also significant nature from many responseswas the transitory In discussinga friendnearby of this engagement. who had helped with the haymakingfor over twenty yearsone farmercommented'We don't see Alanfrom one yearto the next. He keeps an eye out for when we've baledthe hay up and he wandersoverandgivesus a hand.He goes when we've finishedand we don't usuallysee him on What was the farm again until the next year'.35 apparentfrom these interviewsis that personal testimonyis the only way in which the natureof these labourrelations,and particularly changes to them,can be fullyunderstood.Due to the fact

that many of the people engaged in haymaking do so without payment,and quite often have no other input to the farm for the rest of the year, they constitute what I would call a 'hidden' labourforce. That is they do not appearin official narratives of agriculture such as government census returnsonly statistics, with agricultural recording paid full-time, part-timeand casual labour. A second aspect in relation to labour and informedby the oralhistoriesis what haymaking I would term the 'community of haymaking'. Morespecifically, the oralhistoriesillustrated the changingnatureof this haymakingcommunity, two aspects of which are of significancefor the programmes for the conservation of hay meadows. It was seen that haymaking,particularlyin the past, has been not just an agricultural practicebut also a social and communityevent. This findingis by no meansuniqueto this study, to the socialnatureof the with severalreferences hay harvest in artistic works such as George Stubbs' 'The haymakers'. Haymaking was presentedas a communalactivity by a number of farmers and what was salient within their was the often altruisticand reciprocal narratives nature of this help. Two examples of this are illustratedin the following extractswhich refer to help from farming and non-farmingpeople respectively: We had a lot of help from the village lads who worked in the quarries.They'd finish work at five o'clock,go home and have their tea and then walk up and help us cart. Most of the non-farming chaps would help one of the farmsaroundhere at night.34 You always helped your neighbours, always.We pulledtogetherat hay time. You wouldn't see even your worst enemy struggling to get their hay collected if the rain was moving in.35 Countlesssimilarexamplewere recordedof such communalhelp duringhaymaking. Significantly the majority of this help was given without monetary exchanges. Indeed the exchange of money seems to have been consciouslyavoidedin many cases. I spoke to a non-farmerduring the participantobservation who told me that he 'didn'tdo it for the money' and that he would be 'offended' if the farmer triedto payhim for this help.Thissystemof nonpaid help is similar to what Carlos Salazar referredto as a 'moralcommunity'in his study of rural communities in Ireland.36Indeed it appears that a reason why haymaking has persistedin certainareas in a time of capitalist is that manyof those who still make agriculture
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The author during participant observation, August 2002.

hay do so throughthe help of familyand social networks. Significantly however, this moral communityseems to have been erodedin many areas, representingwhat George Ewart Evans referredto as a loss of the 'old culture'.Such a loss holds ramifications for the attemptsto reintroducehaymeadowmanagement. It seems that muchof the community networkwhichwas critical to hay productionin the past may no longer exist to permitits continuance or reintroduction. I found an exception to this trend on three smaller (less that thirty acre) farms. Here the labourforce was made up largelyof newcomers who had moved to the areain the last ten years, and who had no previous links to farming. During participantobservationon these farms severalaccountsof these helpers'relationship to haymaking were collected. Although these people did not have a backgroundin farming they providedtheirown accountsof haymaking and what it meant to them: 'We like to join in and help. I love the smellof hay,it remindsme of walkingin the countrysidewhen I was young. I suppose it sounds a bit good lifey doesn't it?'. Althoughotheraccountssimilarto this were not recorded there was common reference to metaphors and sayings relating to haymaking such as 'makehaywhile the sun shines'.Whatis hereis thatwhiletherehas beenmuch significant said in recentyearsregarding the destructionof

as a result communities traditional ruralfarming of secondhome ownersand ruralnewcomers,in albeit in a differthis case this new community, ent way, and often with different reasons, sustains the continuanceof hay productionby providingthe necessarylabourforce. CONCLUSION This articlehas shown thatdespitethe tendency of scientists to dismiss the spoken word of farmers,as George EwartEvansnoted over 40 years ago their oral histories can in fact play a significantrole within natureconservation.On one level this research illustrates that oral history may be used in a positivist sense as a source of information regardinghay meadow location and hay meadow decline. I have when they suggested that farmers,particularly have farmedthe same areasof land over a long period,havean intimateknowledgeof theirland which often provides greater depth than the sparse level of documentary data at the field level. The materialhas shown that even though a different nomenclature may be used by farmers they often possess a detailed understanding and recall of the floral and faunal change within these meadows. It has been shown that through the use of an oral history approach information of direct relevance to such as the locationextentand conservationists

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managementchanges to hay meadows can be uncovered. The second area where oral histories from farmersplay a vital role is in the actual practice of haymaking.The oral histories revealed that there was a strong culturalattachmentto haymaking, with the ability to make hay considered as an important part of identity formation among farmers. The symbolic was also highlighted significanceof haymaking in relation to the unpaid involvement and community spirit in the practice. This offers
NOTES
1 George EwartEvans,Ask TheFellowsWho Faberand Faber, 1965. Cutthe Hay, London: of Evansto oral Fora reviewof the contribution see: AlunHowkins,'Inventing Everyman: history and National George EwartEvans,Oral History vol 22, no 2, 1994. Oral History, Identity', 2. George EwartEvans,Where Beards Wag London: All:TheRelevanceof the Oral Tradition, Faberand Faber,1970. 3. StephenHusseyand PaulThompsonThe Consciousness:Popular Rootsof Environmental and PersonalExperience,London: Tradition Routledge,2000. to in thisarticleas 4. Theterm'hay' is referred grass storedin a dried state, 'silage' is used to referto grass storedin an uncuredor partially curedstate. 188O1990: 5. PaulBrassley, 'Silage in Britain Thedelayed adoptionof an innovation', Review,vol 44, no 1, History Agricultural offersa detailed 1996, pp 63-87. Brassley chronologyof the developmentof silage in how despite detailed Britain, illustrating into duringthe production silage experiments halfof the the latter 1800s itwas not until thatsilage displaced hay as twentieth century the mostcommonformof fodderconservation. 6. NatureConservancyCouncil, Nature in Great Britain, Conservation Shrewsbury: NatureConservancyCouncil, 1984. 7. Andrew Jones,'We ploughthe fields but what do we scatter?A look at the science and British practiceof grasslandrestoration', Wildlife,April,2000, pp 229-235. 8. Helen Buckingham, Jane Chapmanand of hay meadows RebekahNewman, 'Thefuture National Park',British in the Peak District Wildlife, June, 1999, pp 3 1 1-3 18; Peak Meadows National Park District Authority, Bakewell:PDNPA, Beyond theMillennium, 1997. the geographical 9. JohnEyles,'Interpreting world:qualitative approaches in geographical

crucial pointers for current conservation schemes in revealing that financial incentives may be only partof a much wider set of factors which impinge on hay production. More significantly,in light of the recent mandate of the UK government to promote Traditional farming in the modern environment"37this study has highlighted that oral history, in unveiling information on past practices and cultures, is well placed to make a valuable contribution to the future conservation of the Britishcountryside.
1944, 140 acre dairy farmer; 6 June 2002. with Ingrid 22. Interview Mellor,born in 1948, 1 1 1 acre beef farmer;14 July2002. with Ernest 23. Interview born in Titterton, 1920, 60 acre beef and sheep farmer; 6 June 2001. 24* Joanna Becker,'Can sustainable managementpay off?', agriculture/habitat vol 17, no 1, of Sustainable Journal Agriculture, 2000, pp 113-128. 25. RhysGreen and TimStowe The decline of in and Ireland the corncrakecrex crex in Britain of Applied relation to habitatchange', Journal Ecology,vol 30, 1996, pp 689-695. SouthWest Peak ESA- guidelines 26. DEFRA, London: forfarmers, DEFRA, 2002, pi 5. with Frank 27. Interview Prince,born in 1958, 9 February 68 acre sheep and beef farmer; 2002. 28. The meadows were separated fromthe several restof the holdingwhich meanttravelling milesfromthe farmto reach them with Leslie 29. Interview Askew, born in 1938, 3 June 2002. 84 acre dairy and sheep farmer; 30* George EwartEvans, 1965. 31. Susan Archer Mann, Agrariancapitalism of in theoryand practice,Chapel Hill:University NorthCarolinaPress, 1990. withGeoffreyMellor,born in 32* Interview 1935, 90 acre dairy, beef and sheep farmer; 10 June2002. with Isaac Gibb, born in 195 1, 33. Interview 89 acre dairy farmer;18 June 2002. with Robert 34. Interview Ellis,born in 1912, 4 January2002. 60 acre beef farmer; with SheilaJohnson,born in 35. Interview 1933, 70 acre sheep farmer;14 April2002. 36* Carlos Salazar,A Sentimental Economy: in Rural and Community Ireland, Commodity Oxford:BerghahnBooks, 1996, p 41 . 37. Slogan used forthe Countryside 2002. StewardshipScheme DEFRA, Bornat and Alistair My thankstoJoanna foradvice on thisarticle. Thomson

research',inJohnEylesand David Smith(eds), methodsin humangeography Qualitative Cambridge:Polity,1998, pp. 1-16. 1 O. UKBiodiversity Group, ActionPlanfor English UplandHay Meadows, Peterborough: Nature, 1999. 'Theextentof semi-natural 1 1 TimBlackstock in lowland Englandand grasslandcommunities Wales: a reviewof conservationsurveys197896' Grass and Forage Science, vol 54, 1999, PP 1-18. and SusanneSeymour, 1 2. Judith Tsouvalis, CharlesWatkins,'Exploring knowledge-cultures: precisionfarmig,yield mappingand the expertand Planning farmerinterface',Environment A, vol 32, 2000, pp 909-924. with Stanley 13* Interview Johnson,born in 1928, 150 acre sheep and dairy farmer; 12 May 2001. Scheme is a 1 4. TheCountryside Stewardship nationalscheme in the UKadministered by the Food and Rural for Environment Department and which offerspaymentsto farmers Affairs land managersto enhance and conserve landscapes, theirwildlifeand history. English with HaroldDeaville,born in 1 5. Interview 1915, 1 10 acre dairy farmer;1 1 June 2002. and Alan 16. RogerSmith,Helen Buckingham, 'Theconservationmanagementof Younger (meadow)grasslandin northern mesotrophic of grazing, cutting date, England.Effects fertilizer on the vegetationof a traditionally managed sward', Grass and Forage Science, vol 51, 1996, pp 278-291. TheCountryside I 7. DEFRA, Stewardship and how to apply, Scheme - Information London: HMSO, 2002, p 41 . of the 1 8. GrahamHarvey,TheKilling London: Vintage, 1998, p 25. Countryside, 1 9. UKBiodiversity Group, 1999, p 35. with Frank 20. Interview Prince,born in 193 1, 4 December 80 acre sheep and beef farmer; 2000. withGerraldShaw, born in 21. Interview

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