The Evolution of British Agricultural Policy since the Second World War

This paper aims to describe how British agricultural policy has historically undergone transformations since the end of the Second World War. In Britain, the enormous growth of government intervention in agriculture stemmed initially from the necessities of wartime control. At that time, farmers were not unconscious of the fact that they were going to give up a bit of their own independence in return for the bestowed stability and prosperity. Under those conditions, public opinion, too, was not unsympathetic towards farmers not only in recognition of agriculture's strategic importance, but also in acknowledgment of farmers' wartime sacrifices. This consensus among the British people was embodied in the 1947 Agriculture Act, the single most influential piece of legislation which governed postwar agricultural policy. What the 1947 Act intended to realize was firstly to provide proper remuneration and living conditions to farmers and workers in agriculture, and secondly, to secure an adequate return on capital invested in the industry by providing price guarantees for agricultural products. The framework established in the Act was allowed to prevail without fundamental changes up to the 1970s. During this period, a close relationship was moulded between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and the National Farmers' Union (NFU), a powerful and influential pressure group acting on behalf of almost all the farmers in Britain. The NFU played a direct and drastic role in the determination of agricultural policy, especially with regard to the annual price review. The price review determined the following years' price guarantees to farmers. In 1973,Britain entered the European Community (EC), accordingly by the year of 1978 Britain's agricultural policy has come to be fully adjusted to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EC. Since the early 1980s, European agriculture has been infested by the disastrous issues of over production and environmental degradation. Against this background, a number of proposals aiming to reduce surpluses as well as to protect the environment have been implemented. In Britain, with the establishment of the 1986 Agricultural Act, a statutory duty was placed on Agriculture Ministers to balance the conservation and promotion of the enjoyment of the countryside, the support of a stable and efficient agricultural industry, and the economic and social interests of the rural areas. Nowadays, agricultural policy must be formulated in such a way as farmers should be free from making a contradictory choice between conservation and profitability