Full Description
Life in rural Britain has changed beyond recognition since the beginning of the twentieth century. Through dramatic events, such as the ban on hunting and the outbreak of mad cow disease, and through the growth of the organic movement, changes in farming practices and increasing rural poverty have all had an effect on how we view the countryside and the people who live there.
Through an examination of the historical background to some of the main controversies, the authors explore the key elements of rural life, including the varying responses to animal disease during Biblical times to the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the relationship between farming methods and landscape preservation, as well as organic farming, the role of the European Union and the truth about the Countryside Alliance. Throughout, they address the thorny question of whether the countryside can still support a rural population. This is essential reading for anyone with an interest in contemporary and historical rural life in Britain.
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
List of Contributors vii
Introduction: Farming and the Countryside 1
Jeremy Burchardt
Suggested Further Reading 17
1. Land Use and Leisure: Leslie Scott and the 19
Contested Countryside
Simon Miller
2. An Organic Countryside: Agriculture for 39
Body, Soul and Nation
Philip Conford
3. Agriculture's Role Within the UK 61
Sir John Marsh
4. Agricultural Incomes: A Damaging History of 81
Disjunction Between Policy Concern and Evidence
Berkeley Hill
5. Murrains to Mad Cows: A Very Short History 117
Of Governments, People and Animal Diseases
Paul Brassley
6. 'Listen to Us!': Country Sports and the 145
Mobilization of a Marginalized Constituency
Graham Cox
7. From Agricultural Poverty to Social Exclusion: 167
Shifting Approaches to Rural Poverty in England
Paul Milbourne
8. 'The Land of Lost Content': Ruralism, 187
Englishness and Historical Change in the
Countryside, 1890-1990 00
Alun Howkins
Index 203
