Recent trends in the agricultural geography of Leicestershire

Abstract

The thesis, a comparative account of the post-war agriculture of Leicestershire, is an attempt to assess the extent of the changes which have taken place since the pre-war Land Utilisation Survey was carried out, in order that the changing value of the geographical factors influencing agriculture in the pre-war depression and postwar period of agricultural prosperity may be appreciated. The first part is a brief descriptive account of the geography of the county stressing the factors of particular significance in the study of agricultural distributions. After an outline of the development of agriculture in the county since the enclosures of the 18th Century a short account of agriculture in the nineteen-thirties follows. Changes in the character of British agriculture, and in farming techniques which have taken place between that time and the present period are also considered. The next part of the thesis embodies the main bulk of the research and falls into two principal sections. The first of these is a comparison of distributions of arable land, pasture, crops and stock in the county for the two selected years 1933 and 1948, and the relationship of the major changes to geographical factors is discussed. Secondly a detailed study is made of those parts of the county where the distributions indicate that significant variations in farming practice have occurred. In each area the course of the changes during the ten years 1939-1948 is traced by reference to parish statistics. The pattern of present-day land use in each area is compared with that of the pre-war period and the economy of specimen farms discussed. Finally the main agricultural trends of the last two decades are summarised and conclusions drawn.