0:02:36 > 0:02:37The Royal, more than anything,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40reflects the changing face of British agriculture.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Every new idea, every invention,
0:02:42 > 0:02:46every technique that's bang up to the minute, they're all here.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50This is the age of power farming, of push button agriculture.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52When machines take over the big jobs.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04It may look like something from outer space but dig that ditch!
0:03:05 > 0:03:07And there's plenty for the automatic reed cutter to do.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Long-haired operators beware!
0:03:11 > 0:03:13And it's also advisable to keep your distance
0:03:13 > 0:03:14when the manure spreader's about.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23In the war against plant, pests and diseases, the whirly bird is
0:03:23 > 0:03:27one of the finest weapons, spraying or dusting crops with insecticides.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Or even, if need be, laying a top dressing of fertiliser.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Agricultural aviation is here to stay.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41With farming a branch of engineering science these days,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43farmers must be up with the times.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Bill Banks' farm near Spalding covers 2,000 acres
0:03:46 > 0:03:47of rich Lincolnshire land.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50To keep in touch, Bill has his own radio station
0:03:50 > 0:03:54linking the farm office with his own car and the farm foreman.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Sometimes, Bill deals with farm problems
0:03:59 > 0:04:01when he's 20 miles away at the market.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Colin here.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Yes, Colin?
0:04:08 > 0:04:11We're a little bit concerned about the potato markets this morning.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13The prices are not so good.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Once they said that combines like these couldn't operate in Britain.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20The fields were too small, the land generally too hilly,
0:04:20 > 0:04:22the climate too wet.
0:04:22 > 0:04:23So said the pessimists.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Today, 40,000 combines like these bring home the grain.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30It's hard to remember what a team of Clydesdale horses really looks like.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Nature, machines, man's ingenuity go hand in hand.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47And the end product is a store of grain
0:04:47 > 0:04:50stacked high in the nation's silos.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Farming progress would never be possible
0:04:54 > 0:04:55without the backroom men and women.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59The botanists, the soil experts, the chemists and engineers.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06And here's one of the results of seven years of experiments.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11A tractor a baby could drive. Well, almost! No gear box. It's easy.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15As this scientist's secretary knows, it's simpler than typing.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Here, the human aspect of machinery is important too.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28In this case, the comfort and health of the tractor driver.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31For a day's work on an average tractor seat can be like
0:05:31 > 0:05:34riding a switchback railway - or worse!
0:05:39 > 0:05:43These rough conditions are simulated on a test rig.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Here fitted with an old type tractor seat.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48And it's a rough ride for the test driver.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50The pounding the driver's body has to put up with
0:05:50 > 0:05:52is recorded on a graph.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03In the institute's laboratory, the driver's rough ride
0:06:03 > 0:06:06can be transferred to a computer.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20And then, by varying the tractor design on the computer,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22the ride can be improved.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26These design suggestions are passed on to the tractor manufacturers.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33If you're wondering what they're harvesting, here's your answer.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57This is one of the largest intensive feeding units in the country.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59This is a barley beef production line,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02as precise and scientific as a car line at Coventry.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06And never surely were the customers more obviously contented.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Already in Britain about one in every ten of our beef calves
0:07:17 > 0:07:20is reared on this intensive system.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Keeping cattle indoors is common place in many parts of the world.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Often in conditions nothing like as scientifically controlled
0:07:27 > 0:07:29or as good as they are in Britain.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32It's a way and only a way of putting up our beef production.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35For, as standards of living go up all over the world,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37so, more and more beef is being eaten.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40And there just isn't enough to go round.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45The housewife too is getting new ideas.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Today, she likes lean beef and smaller joints.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51The choice is hers.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54So, a new farming industry is growing up.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Intensively-reared barley beef designed to produce
0:07:57 > 0:08:00the finished job in the shortest possible time.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02It's just one of the many changes
0:08:02 > 0:08:04that are going on in the farming world.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Market research has shown that British housewives are prepared
0:08:13 > 0:08:16to pay more for potatoes that are well dressed,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19so, every week, 200 tonnes of the best quality potatoes
0:08:19 > 0:08:23are now going through these automated cleaning and grading lines.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Hand-picked for size and shape, without blemishes or bruises,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44only the best go through for weighing and packing.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47These more expensive, prime potatoes are proving popular.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51The greater the demand for them, the more we shall see in the shops.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Potato crisps are one of the reasons why Britain's consumption
0:09:02 > 0:09:05of potatoes has gone up over the last five years.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10Today, we are eating 300,000 tonnes of potatoes as crisps every year,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13and this figure is still on the increase.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16The reason, say the crisp producers, is that we're getting
0:09:16 > 0:09:18more and more into the habit of eating snacks.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35During the last war, people in Britain
0:09:35 > 0:09:38got used to what's now called instant potato.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40Simply potatoes in powdered form.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Water or milk is added to reconstitute.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Even today, one in 100 people buys powdered potato.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Today's housewife demands a milder tasting pickled onion,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04but if the vinegar is weakened too much, the onions go soft.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07The answer was found to be in pasteurisation.
0:10:07 > 0:10:08Applied to onions for the first time
0:10:08 > 0:10:10in laboratories at research stations.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13This is only one of hundreds of research problems
0:10:13 > 0:10:15tackled here every year.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28The very latest method of preserving food has been developed
0:10:28 > 0:10:31at the Government's experimental factory at Aberdeen.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35This method is known as accelerated freeze drying or AFD.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38A wide variety of dried food has been produced
0:10:38 > 0:10:40from roast beef to milk puddings.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Ever thought of having six penn'orth of dried fish and chips?
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Well, you can't buy them in the shops yet
0:10:45 > 0:10:48but that's what's going through the production line here.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51When the chips come out of the dehydrating chamber,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53they look much the same as when they went in.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55But they're less than a quarter the weight.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58And, so long as they remain dry, they'll keep indefinitely.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02AFD foods are prepared by adding water and cooking in the normal way.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17- Oh, boy! Food!- You're right there.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Everything's either been pre-cooked, dried, bottled, frozen,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23tinned, vitaminised, homogenised, preserved, coloured,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26defatted, sterilised, concentrated, powdered, or starch reduced.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Food really is becoming rather a bore!
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Food gets so bad, it makes you think
0:11:36 > 0:11:39there's something wrong with the cutlery.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03The village, like the city, takes Sunday quietly.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05The roundsmen, whose work goes on seven days a week,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07deliver the milk.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10The car park outside the village pub is deserted.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12Sunday still hasn't woken up.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22But, as it gets nearer midday, there's a stir in the air.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24A man and his dog can be seen out walking.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27For noon is the time when the pubs open.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30When, for masses of people, Sunday turns from rest to recreation -
0:12:30 > 0:12:32to getting out and about.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35One thing never seems to change.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39The Sunday pint in the village pub is part of the English way of life.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51Market day. When the farmer and his wife come into town,
0:12:51 > 0:12:52eager to enjoy their day out.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55It's the jolliest, busiest day of the week
0:12:55 > 0:12:56in the life of a country town.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Some of them have grown old standing around the markets
0:12:59 > 0:13:01and some of them not so old are learning fast.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13It's the jostling, exciting day when a man has time to meet an old pal.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Time to get into a huddle about the crops or the markets.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20When there's a break for a yarn and maybe a good old grumble.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22For farmers have always had an excuse for a grouse.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Even if it's only about the weather.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33It's a race against the clock and the weather
0:13:33 > 0:13:35in an unforeseen role for the RAF.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Squadrons operate from dawn to dusk to save marooned cattle and sheep.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51And this farmer's in a hurry
0:13:51 > 0:13:53to help them land safely to pick up animal fodder.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05Now to find the animals.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12The deer down there will have to do as best they can this time -
0:14:12 > 0:14:14this mission's to save farm stock.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17And there they are - scared of the helicopter
0:14:17 > 0:14:20but soon they'll come back to feed.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34Rescue has come none too soon.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Some of Britain's new forests, like this one near Aberystwyth,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01are so large that they have their own self-contained forest villages.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Foresters, foremen and forest workers
0:15:03 > 0:15:07are supplied with houses nearby the woods they look after.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22There's a school for their children up to the age of 11.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30And the village shop is almost a club for their women folk.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37The simple open air working life of the forests is attracting
0:15:37 > 0:15:39many town people too.
0:15:39 > 0:15:4237-year-old Dennis Lake for instance,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45getting ready for work in the Dovey Forest, was born in London.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48He's been a clerk and worked in a factory, now he's settled
0:15:48 > 0:15:52with his wife and three children in a forest village, for good he says.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11MUSIC: "Greensleeves"
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Could you break out into a life like this?
0:16:20 > 0:16:24Air to breath, room to move - what a life for the kids.
0:16:33 > 0:16:39Ralf Human has done it, made the break, he and his wife.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43A tiny farm, six Hertfordshire acres, that's all.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Impossibly uneconomic you'd be told, yet they're making it pay.
0:16:52 > 0:16:58It can be done but be warned, it's a vanishing way of life.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02PIGS GRUNT
0:17:04 > 0:17:07This is the man of the future, who's here today
0:17:07 > 0:17:09and in increasing numbers.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11The new farm worker.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14Farm worker, living in an £8,000 house,
0:17:14 > 0:17:19running a brand new car, earning over £1,000 a year?
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Yes, Don's a farm worker, but it would be nearer the mark
0:17:23 > 0:17:26if you called him a farm technologist.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Arriving for the day's work.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39He and his mates have no less than 1,000 pigs to look after.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Mates? What mates? There aren't any.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Don's entirely on his own.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48A switch or two to operate, a basic minimum of physical labour
0:17:48 > 0:17:52that the machines haven't yet got round to doing, but they will.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53And the day's work has begun.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Waiting to be fed, greedy pigs.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08And breakfast is served.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13He'd like to be a pig man when he grows up.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16But by that time, there'll probably be machines to press the buttons.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33The odd man is still to be seen here and there among the machinery,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37but more and more he seems the odd man out.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Already there is no technical reason why a farm
0:18:40 > 0:18:43should not be totally automated under electronic control.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45"It can't happen in my lifetime,"
0:18:45 > 0:18:48how often have we said that and been wrong?
0:18:57 > 0:19:01HUNT HORN SOUNDS
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Fox hunting, for centuries a part of British country life,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07has never been so severely criticised as it is today.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Yet never has it been so popular.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Since the war, the number of hunts in Britain
0:19:12 > 0:19:15has increased from 150 to over 200.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18More than 30,000 people now ride regularly to hounds
0:19:18 > 0:19:20over the five month winter season.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24HOOVES CLIP-CLOP ON PATH
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Before the meet, so that foxes can't quickly dive for cover,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33all fox holes in the locality are stopped.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35A practice some people object to.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Members of the League Against Cruel Sports,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44one of the six anti-fox hunting societies in Britain,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47work for the fox by laying false trails
0:19:47 > 0:19:51of a chemical compound through woods where the hunt will be that day.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Hounds hunt the fox by scent.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Despite all this, meets of fox hounds are getting bigger.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09HOUNDS BARK
0:20:13 > 0:20:17The doctor's here with his wife, the radio mechanic, the vicar,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19farmers and the company directors.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Hounds are getting impatient now, horses edging this way and that.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31It's 11am and the hunt moves off.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35BUGLE SOUNDS, HOUNDS BARK
0:20:40 > 0:20:43The chase is on, maybe for 10 or 15 miles.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46HOUNDS BARK
0:20:48 > 0:20:50HOOVES THUNDER
0:20:58 > 0:21:01It's a chase that tests horse and man alike.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03The fox may double back, run through sheep to lose his scent,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06often pause on rising ground to look back.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Only one in every five chased by hounds is caught.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14FRENZIED BARKING
0:21:17 > 0:21:19HUNTSMEN CALL OUT
0:21:19 > 0:21:23But this fox is unlucky and the hounds close in.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26It's soon all over. The fox is dead.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28But the question still remains.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Is this the best way of keeping down foxes?
0:21:31 > 0:21:33HOUNDS BARK LOUDLY
0:21:48 > 0:21:50Britain's main stronghold for red deer
0:21:50 > 0:21:53is still the Highlands and islands of Scotland
0:21:53 > 0:21:55where the Red Deer Commission was set up in 1959
0:21:55 > 0:21:57to conserve and control them.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08If there are too many deer in a given area,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12natural food becomes scarce and herds either raid the crops
0:22:12 > 0:22:14or die of starvation.
0:22:14 > 0:22:15So some control is necessary.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19So where there are too many deer,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22the commission states every year how many each estate must kill.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34I first went stalking with my father at the age of eight,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36it was a terribly long time ago.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38And I've done it more or less ever since
0:22:38 > 0:22:40with the exception of the war years.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44And I consider it the finest sport there is.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46What we're looking for is poor quality stags,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49old ones that may not survive the coming winter.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54Of course, the good quality stags are the ones we want to keep.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Indeed, we treasure them from year to year,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00as they're the ones that will increase the standard of our herd.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10A day on the hill to me, it means getting away from it all.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12And it gives one a wonderful sense of freedom,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14the higher one gets up the hill.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16DRAMATIC MUSIC
0:23:32 > 0:23:35HORSES HOOVES THUNDER
0:23:45 > 0:23:48This is Hampshire county.
0:23:48 > 0:23:54Not Hampshire in the Wild West but Hampshire, England. Yes, England.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57It's part of the cowboy cult that's sweeping Europe today.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06At Britain's Flying G Ranch,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08they not only look like genuine cowboys,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10they're encouraged to talk and act like them.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22And, of course, it's not surprising that there are cowgirls too.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26For in Britain, as in America, there's nothing like a dame!
0:24:27 > 0:24:33HARMONICA PLAYS "Home On The Range"
0:24:33 > 0:24:38In the New Forest, the modern cowboys have 93,000 acres to roam.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40They seldom hit the same trail twice.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43And more and more are following the trend towards one horsepower
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Western-style as an escape from the mechanised world.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07For years people have been talking about preserving the countryside.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Much has been done, but there's no room for complacency.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15The New Forest in Hampshire contains 144 square miles
0:25:15 > 0:25:18of magnificent country and woodlands.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21And during peak periods it receives 70,000 visitors a day.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31But those who do this sort of thing aren't welcome.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34The refuse collectors, who travel 100 miles each day,
0:25:34 > 0:25:39picked up last year 800 tonnes of soft litter left behind by people
0:25:39 > 0:25:41out for a day in the country.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44As well as 25,000 bottles of various sorts.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Britain's countryside is so popular with holiday makers
0:25:53 > 0:25:55and overseas tourists that, today,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59the sheer weight of numbers of people and cars crowding into it,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03is threatening the very things these people come to enjoy.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07The problem is, how can Britain have her cake and eat it?
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Out of the chrysalis, a butterfly is born.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32However hard you look,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35butterflies seem to be much more elusive these days.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39There are fewer of them
0:26:39 > 0:26:42even in gardens full of buddleia bushes, which always attract them.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Why are there fewer butterflies in Britain today?
0:26:54 > 0:26:56The spraying of crops with insecticides
0:26:56 > 0:26:58may partly account for it.
0:26:58 > 0:26:59CHOPPER BLADES WHIRR
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Another reason could be the cutting back
0:27:03 > 0:27:05of grass verges in the countryside.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12But scientists say a more likely cause is the loss of wild plants
0:27:12 > 0:27:14on which he butterflies feed,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17as more fields are cultivated or built on.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Also increasingly sunless summers could mean less breeding.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25One thing is certain, the shortage is not caused
0:27:25 > 0:27:27by too many butterflies being collected.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Some people think too much fuss is being made
0:27:34 > 0:27:36about the shortage of butterflies.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Maybe next year, they say, the balance will have redressed itself
0:27:39 > 0:27:41and they'll be back in greater number.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Butterflies are one more example
0:27:48 > 0:27:50of the wildlife of the British countryside
0:27:50 > 0:27:53which is being threatened by modern developments
0:27:53 > 0:27:54and public apathy.