Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Robert Reid introduces a report by Godfrey Baseley on the current state of farming in Britain, including a look at the work of Farm Institutes. Is Britain making the most of its land? How much of our food is homegrown, and what improvements can be made to farms and farming practices to increase that number?
Two-thirds of the meat consumed in Britain is produced in Britain, four-fifths of eggs and green vegetables are homegrown, and Britain is effectively self-sufficient when it comes to potatoes and milk. On the other hand, only one third of the wheat we use to make our bread is British, and ninety percent of our butter and the majority of our cheese is imported.
What lies behind these figures? Godfrey speaks to farmers like Mr J.H.Vernon, Mr J.F.Gradon and Fred Humphreys about how they run their farms, and to Professor Sanders - the chief technical advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture - about whether Britain has enough farming land. Godfrey then visits the Shropshire Farm Institute, to see how the next generation of farmers and farm workers are being trained.
Clip taken from Special Enquiry: The Land, originally broadcast on BBC Television, 20 March, 1956.
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Robert Reid introduces a report by Godfrey Baseley on the current state of farming in Britain, including a look at the work of Farm Institutes. Is Britain making the most of its land? How much of our food is homegrown, and what improvements can be made to farms and farming practices to increase that number?
Two-thirds of the meat consumed in Britain is produced in Britain, four-fifths of eggs and green vegetables are homegrown, and Britain is effectively self-sufficient when it comes to potatoes and milk. On the other hand, only one third of the wheat we use to make our bread is British, and ninety percent of our butter and the majority of our cheese is imported.
What lies behind these figures? Godfrey speaks to farmers like Mr J.H.Vernon, Mr J.F.Gradon and Fred Humphreys about how they run their farms, and to Professor Sanders - the chief technical advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture - about whether Britain has enough farming land. Godfrey then visits the Shropshire Farm Institute, to see how the next generation of farmers and farm workers are being trained.
Clip taken from Special Enquiry: The Land, originally broadcast on BBC Television, 20 March, 1956.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
