0:00:04 > 0:00:07The home movies shot by some of Britain's farmers
0:00:07 > 0:00:11are a unique insight into the 20th century revolution
0:00:11 > 0:00:13that swept across the countryside.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28It was a revolution that changed every area of farming
0:00:28 > 0:00:30and the way farmers grew fruit and vegetables
0:00:30 > 0:00:32changed more than any other.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37We think of horticulture as kind of big gardening
0:00:37 > 0:00:40but, in some ways, it's the most technically complex
0:00:40 > 0:00:45and one of the most technically advanced sectors of agriculture,
0:00:45 > 0:00:47and has been so for at least 150 years.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51How did horticulture go from this...
0:00:51 > 0:00:54to this?
0:00:54 > 0:00:55EAST EUROPEAN DIALECT
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Why did we move from produce being grown outside,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04to under acres of carefully controlled microclimates?
0:01:08 > 0:01:11And why did so many small-scale producers,
0:01:11 > 0:01:15at one time the backbone of the industry, lose out?
0:01:15 > 0:01:16If you go back,
0:01:16 > 0:01:18we were a name and now we're just a number.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22And if that number is not there next year nobody is really going to mind.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Told through the home movies of the people
0:01:26 > 0:01:30who experienced these changes, this is the story
0:01:30 > 0:01:34of the horticultural revolution from the grower's point of view.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53The range of fruit and vegetables
0:01:53 > 0:01:57grown by horticulturalists in the 20th century was huge.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02By following the growing season of three of the most popular -
0:02:02 > 0:02:07strawberries, tomatoes and apples - this programme reveals the way
0:02:07 > 0:02:11horticulturalists developed new growing or propagation techniques.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19And their increasing use of science and technology
0:02:19 > 0:02:22to revolutionise the way fruit and vegetables were cultivated,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24harvested and sold.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36In the early part of the last century,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38the varieties that horticulturalists could grow
0:02:38 > 0:02:40depended very much on where they farmed.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Climate and soil determined everything.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Apples were grown commercially in Kent, Herefordshire
0:02:50 > 0:02:53and the counties of Southwest England.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01These orchards belong to a large country estate in Somerset.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05They're owned and farmed by Jonathan Hoskyns.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13The land that I farm at the moment, has been in the family since 1760.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16My ancestors were involved
0:03:16 > 0:03:21in banking, locally in banking, and further afield with tea in Ceylon.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26In the early years of the 20th century, land on the estate
0:03:26 > 0:03:28was rented to tenant farmers.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31But by the 1930s, low prices and low rents
0:03:31 > 0:03:35led to changes in the way the estate was run.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39My grandfather, who was the oldest ancestor that I knew,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42would have considered himself a landowner rather than a farmer.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Although in the latter part of his life he got involved in farming,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48including planting the farm
0:03:48 > 0:03:53as we see it today back in the 1930s and developing his estate,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57as it was then, which involved mostly selling it off in the late 50s
0:03:57 > 0:03:59to invest in the fruit farms.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13Jon's grandfather was an amateur film enthusiast.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23As well a recording a whole range of family events and activities,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27he filmed the commercial fruit farm that he was developing.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35He realised that having tenant farms was not a profitable thing to do
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and that he needed to be getting into farming himself.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Fruit had been in short supply during the war
0:04:41 > 0:04:46but after 1945 demand surged
0:04:46 > 0:04:48and the Somerset growers responded.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51By the 1950s, Jon's grandfather
0:04:51 > 0:04:54had increased the size of his orchards
0:04:54 > 0:04:58to almost 50 acres. And as the Hoskyns estate changed,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02filming went on, capturing the yearly cycle of production.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06Preparations for the growing season,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09started with mid-winter tree pruning.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Traditionally, mid-winter was also the time
0:05:13 > 0:05:16when communities across Somerset
0:05:16 > 0:05:17and other rural counties
0:05:17 > 0:05:21would perform long established customs to protect their crops.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25They hoped to drive out pests and other evil spirits.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29# ..And hope that thou will bear
0:05:29 > 0:05:32# For the Lord doth know
0:05:32 > 0:05:38# Where we shall become apples another year
0:05:38 > 0:05:41# To bloom well and to bear... #
0:05:41 > 0:05:42In the odd Somerset village
0:05:42 > 0:05:47on old 12th night, the wassail still takes place.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48# ..Apple tree. #
0:05:48 > 0:05:52ALL CHANT: Oh, apple tree, we wassail thee
0:05:52 > 0:05:55And hope that thou will bear
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Hatfulls, capfulls, three bushel bagfulls.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02CHEERING AND GUNSHOTS
0:06:04 > 0:06:08Crop failure could be disastrous for the local economy
0:06:08 > 0:06:11and, as the 20th century evolved,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14growers like Jonathan Hoskyns' grandfather
0:06:14 > 0:06:18began to rely less on custom and more on chemistry.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21The application of science wasn't new.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27By the 19th century people are spraying.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32People understand fertilisers, they understand that you need to weed,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36that you need to keep stuff well manured and so on.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38So the scientific revolution
0:06:38 > 0:06:40which we make so much of in the 20th century
0:06:40 > 0:06:43is not ONLY a product of the 20th century,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47it's the product of something that's been going on for a long time.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52In the early years of the 20th century,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54growers in Southwest England
0:06:54 > 0:06:56had been keen to use science to find ways to improve
0:06:56 > 0:07:01both propagation techniques and the quality of local cider.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03When the Long Ashton
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Research Station first opened in 1903,
0:07:06 > 0:07:11these were the first experimental trees to be planted here.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14They're apple trees and every year they still bear fruit.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17But today's modern fruit grower
0:07:17 > 0:07:19wouldn't thank you for trees like this.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21They're much to big,
0:07:21 > 0:07:22they take up far too much space
0:07:22 > 0:07:25and they're very expensive to harvest.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31The Long Ashton Research Station,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35funded by the apple growers, opened in North Somerset in 1905.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37It wouldn't surprise me
0:07:37 > 0:07:39if by the end of the century
0:07:39 > 0:07:42the fruit tree has almost disappeared altogether
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and that we're producing fruit with hardly any tree at all.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51This boundless optimism about the potential power of science
0:07:51 > 0:07:54came into its own after 1945.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56Chemical research done during the war
0:07:56 > 0:07:59was turned over to the battle against pests.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05The Hoskyns family adopted the new science enthusiastically.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09This 1952 film shows new saplings being sprayed.
0:08:12 > 0:08:13In the 50s,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15they used to start at the beginning of the season
0:08:15 > 0:08:18with a rigid programme of sprays and they would stick to that
0:08:18 > 0:08:22right the way through the season. You don't care what's going on
0:08:22 > 0:08:26on the farm, you just stick to your spray programme.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30In the old farm office, there is still
0:08:30 > 0:08:33an old spray programme on the wall, and it would not have varied
0:08:33 > 0:08:35from year to year, effectively.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Unless ICI, as it was then, brought out a new chemical and wanted to make
0:08:39 > 0:08:42a bit more money by pushing it, you stuck to the same thing
0:08:42 > 0:08:44that you did the year before.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46But in terms of chemicals,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50it was pretty much out of a book and paint by numbers.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53- FILM TRACK:- 'There are 60,000 trees
0:08:53 > 0:08:56'and every one has to be sprayed four or five times a year.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59'When the trees are in pink bud stage,
0:08:59 > 0:09:01'just before the blossom opens,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03'they are sprayed with a solution of lead arsonate
0:09:03 > 0:09:04'to kill the caterpillars
0:09:04 > 0:09:07'that might otherwise attack them and spoil the crop.'
0:09:14 > 0:09:16What we have to remember now,
0:09:16 > 0:09:21looking back from the high point of the first part of the 21st century,
0:09:21 > 0:09:27is that 60 years ago, chemicals of this kind were seen as saviours.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31They saved labour, they increased productivity.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34They attacked pests which could completely destroy a crop
0:09:34 > 0:09:36almost literally overnight.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43They also dealt with weeds and competitor plants in a way
0:09:43 > 0:09:49which was unthinkable by hand or by normal machine.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53It's mid April at Jonathan Hoskyns' Somerset fruit farm.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58After 1986, the use of pesticides become more strictly controlled.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Whilst they're still useful to Jonathan Hoskyns,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03he applies them more selectively.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09This is a Discovery orchard which is the first variety which we pick.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12There is actually... We've got a little pest here.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16I don't know if you can see that. That's apple sawfly.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Just after it was pollinated,
0:10:18 > 0:10:23a little caterpillar hatched and took a munch in a little circle
0:10:23 > 0:10:26and then it disappears inside and it looks like
0:10:26 > 0:10:31it's just either emerged, I think, from here, and it will now be a moth.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37We monitor those moths using pheromone traps.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41And we can monitor the male moths, counting them on a week-to-week basis
0:10:41 > 0:10:44until we can see a flight which means that, all of a sudden,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46the numbers of moths goes up quite quickly.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49We know then that there's going to be a major egg-laying session
0:10:49 > 0:10:53and we can time from that exactly when the eggs are going to hatch
0:10:53 > 0:10:55and spray accordingly.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01We would normally be happy to see a threshold
0:11:01 > 0:11:06a threshold of five codling moths two weeks out of four weeks.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09This now is an indication, we're looking at my records,
0:11:09 > 0:11:13we've been catching two, nothing, four, six, four, six
0:11:13 > 0:11:15and now up to about 50.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19This would indicate we've had a flight this last week.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24And so we'll time our insecticide to the middle to the end of next week
0:11:24 > 0:11:28and hopefully we'll keep this flight well under control.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33In the years after 1945, as the use of chemicals across a whole range
0:11:33 > 0:11:36of fruit and vegetables became widespread,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38yields began to increase.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44But as well as using science,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48horticulturalists were changing the way they grew plants...
0:11:50 > 0:11:53..and these new propagation techniques
0:11:53 > 0:11:55would have a massive impact on yields.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03The strawberry, the most quintessentially English of fruit,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06is a good example of the changes taking place.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13This is the way strawberries were propagated up until the 1960s.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17These were planted at Waterperry,
0:12:17 > 0:12:21a girls only horticultural college near Oxford.
0:12:23 > 0:12:24During the 50s,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29college life was filmed by its principal, Beatrix Havergal.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31That's her in the middle.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34As well as growing some fruit and veg commercially,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38the college prepared its young girls for careers in horticulture.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43One of the students at the time was Bridget Lutyens.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47I went in 53 and left in 55.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49I was there for two years, hard graft.
0:12:49 > 0:12:50SHE CHUCKLES
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Bridget recalls the techniques they used.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Well, this would be
0:12:57 > 0:13:00when they planted the big plants out in the west field
0:13:00 > 0:13:03in, I suppose, in the spring
0:13:03 > 0:13:07and grow them through the summer.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09And then, in the late autumn,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12they stacked them on their sides against a wall, covered with straw,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14left them for the winter.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18because they're hardy strawberries. So they survived.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23And then, in about January, they brought them into the hothouses.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28They were brought inside small glasshouses.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32A rabbit's tail substituted for insect pollination.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35They were precious, precious, precious plants.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38And this agony, you know, if they weren't doing as well as they should
0:13:38 > 0:13:43everybody got into a great gloom and we sort of lived and died and...
0:13:43 > 0:13:46it was... At breakfast, Miss Havergal would come in
0:13:46 > 0:13:49either smiling or scowling or whatever.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51I mean, it was amazing.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Absolutely amazing.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55And, well, we all went along with it.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59These strawberries were ripened in time for the Chelsea Flower Show
0:13:59 > 0:14:01in late May.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05A huge effort was put into winning the top prize and they won it
0:14:05 > 0:14:0813 times in the 50s and 60s.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Though not everyone was allowed to share in the success.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15I'd made the terrible sin of getting engaged when I was there.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18And when I finally told her that I was engaged -
0:14:18 > 0:14:21which was the most terrifying thing I've ever done -
0:14:21 > 0:14:25she said, "Nobody but nobody has ever got engaged here before."
0:14:25 > 0:14:27And I was just dropped from all lovely things.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29I was allowed to do the hard work
0:14:29 > 0:14:33but I wasn't allowed to stand on the Chelsea stand. I might have,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35I suppose, I might have contaminated the strawberries.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40These images seem timeless,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44yet Beatrice Havergal's camera captured horticultural techniques
0:14:44 > 0:14:46that were on the cusp of change.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52It was completely unchanged from when it started. I mean, way back
0:14:52 > 0:14:54at the beginning of the century.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57It was just those methods which had continued.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03By the 60s,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06people were beginning to question it
0:15:06 > 0:15:10and the modern world was sort of coming in and everything changed.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Further down the Thames Valley in Wiltshire,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25is the farm belonging to Norman Parry and an example of how
0:15:25 > 0:15:28the growing of strawberries has changed since the 1960s.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32It's mid April and Norman is planting strawberry plants
0:15:32 > 0:15:37that will be ready in July but, unlike those grown at Waterperry,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40he will be able to harvest well into October.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44These beautiful plants come from Holland.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And they're lifted in the autumn
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and stored in great big fridges.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54And when we want... the crop of strawberries,
0:15:54 > 0:15:59we basically plant them 60 days beforehand.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Norman uses polythene,
0:16:03 > 0:16:04artificial compost
0:16:04 > 0:16:08and varieties that would have been unheard of in the 1950s.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Each plant is fed and watered individually.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17The plants are getting everything they need in terms of nutrition -
0:16:17 > 0:16:20down to the very smallest trace elements.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24And, of course, that's why they look so healthy and it's why the fruit
0:16:24 > 0:16:26really is extremely tasty.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30The roots become active
0:16:30 > 0:16:33in no time at all and it would be very surprising...
0:16:33 > 0:16:36It wouldn't be the fault of the system if a plant failed.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37If a plant fails, it's because
0:16:37 > 0:16:40it's been broken in transit or something.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Whereas in the field you might get
0:16:43 > 0:16:46an 80% or 90% take under good conditions,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48here it is just 100%.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53This crop will ripen in time
0:16:53 > 0:16:57for a weekend extravaganza when Norman hopes to bring in the crowds.
0:16:57 > 0:17:03However good the plants look, it depends purely on how much you sell.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06There's a saying in the industry that it's much better to sell
0:17:06 > 0:17:11a bad crop in good weather than try and sell a good crop in bad weather.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13The customer is king.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16And I have got to get the customers in.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21While new propagation techniques, plant varieties
0:17:21 > 0:17:25and oil-based products like plastic and polythene were being used
0:17:25 > 0:17:29by horticulturalists across the country to increase yields,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33one more far-reaching development was on the way -
0:17:33 > 0:17:37the glasshouse. The glasshouse was revolutionary
0:17:37 > 0:17:42because it would do something every farmer wants above everything,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46it would remove all the climatic uncertainties.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53The impact of the glasshouse on post-war horticulture
0:17:53 > 0:17:57is illustrated perfectly in the story of the tomato.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00# I've red tommy-toes for the gentry
0:18:00 > 0:18:04# And bloaters for the likes of you I've pears and I've peas... #
0:18:04 > 0:18:08There's a wonderful moment in Flora Thomson's Lark Rise.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10When, as a child, she sees a tomato
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and spends her penny on it because it looks so beautiful
0:18:13 > 0:18:16and she thinks it's going to be sweet and it's not, it's horrible,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19it's sharp, she hates it. And the man selling it says,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23"Well, gal, them's for the gentry, not for the likes of you."
0:18:23 > 0:18:28# Yes, it's red tommy-toes for the gentry
0:18:28 > 0:18:30# And it's...
0:18:30 > 0:18:33# Bloaters for the likes of you! #
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Tomatoes were historically difficult to grow outdoors
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and early glasshouses
0:18:39 > 0:18:42made them an expensive luxury for the middle classes.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46The one area of Britain they thrived was the Channel Islands.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53It was in the early years of the last century when a small number
0:18:53 > 0:18:55of family growers on Jersey
0:18:55 > 0:18:59began to produce outdoor tomatoes for the mainland.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Amongst them were the Le Maistres
0:19:03 > 0:19:06who started growing towards the end of the 19th century.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10This is Peter Le Maistre, surrounded by tomatoes in the 50s,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and he carries on growing them on the island today.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Well this is quite an exciting time
0:19:18 > 0:19:22because this is, in effect, the start of a new tomato season.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26I sowed these tomato seedlings about three days ago and, as you can see,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29they're just beginning to germinate.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31The very first ones are just coming up.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35Seem to have a rogue here who's come up on his own.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Every year, the weather throws something different at you
0:19:39 > 0:19:42and you wonder how this particular crop is going to grow.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44All these things have to be carefully nurtured
0:19:44 > 0:19:47because tomato seed is a very expensive commodity,
0:19:47 > 0:19:49especially organic tomato seed.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52I mean, this single little seedling alone
0:19:52 > 0:19:54is probably worth 20p.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57And when you multiply that up by the area I'm growing,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01about three acres, it's going to come to somewhere
0:20:01 > 0:20:04in the region of 7.5 to £8,000 for the seed alone.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07So you can see, it's a very risky adventure.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13Peter is getting ready to plant out the tomato seedlings for the coming season.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Because he grows outdoor tomatoes, to catch the best of the growing season,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20he and his father have to plant in May.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24When he began working in the business, it was a backbreaking job.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27This is how we used to plant tomatoes.
0:20:27 > 0:20:33You'd roll out a cord, basically a large piece of string or a long piece of string,
0:20:33 > 0:20:40then set that up to provide the long straight row that would provide the basis of your tomato planting.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Every tomato is planted...
0:20:46 > 0:20:51..in a couple with the man on a spade and the woman putting in the plants.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53I'm the woman today.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01And a good couple, Dad, how many would the plant in a day?
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Well, about 12,000.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06About 12,000 plants.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10So, about two-thirds of an acre.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18The other thing is, the quicker the planter, the easier it is for the man on the spade.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20Oh, is that a complaint?
0:21:22 > 0:21:28Because everything was so much smaller, so many more farmers
0:21:28 > 0:21:31and, um, there was sort of competition then.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35You'd see someone start planting the tomatoes and you'd think,
0:21:35 > 0:21:40"Oh, I'd better start as well otherwise he's going to be ahead of me."
0:21:42 > 0:21:47These days, of course, we're the only person left growing outdoor tomatoes in Jersey.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51So, when we start is the date to start.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55This system of planting, I suppose,
0:21:55 > 0:22:02was the only way used until sort of the mid-1970s when the first mechanical planters appeared.
0:22:02 > 0:22:08And people moved out from this system to the mechanical planting system that we're using today.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22Yes, my father's very much involved
0:22:22 > 0:22:28and, of all the things on the farm, he still likes to get very much involved in the tomatoes.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34He still sows them, looks after their pricking out and the growing.
0:22:43 > 0:22:49Outdoor tomatoes is one of the nicest crops to grow from a producer's point of view
0:22:49 > 0:22:52in that, you've got a plant.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55You see it growing for a long period of time.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58I mean, these plants are planted out in mid-May.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01And they're not harvested until August.
0:23:01 > 0:23:07And then, of course, you can look - it's not like a potato crop where the crop is hidden under the ground.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10We can actually look at the tomato plant,
0:23:10 > 0:23:17we've got five trusses of hopefully nice fruit that's going to produce a satisfying yield of tomatoes.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Close to Peter Le Maistre is another tomato grower, Stanley Payn.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30Like Peter, Stanley's family has been growing tomatoes for generations.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33His records go back to World War One.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Right, I've just brought,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43brought these.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47If we go back to the tomato season 1916
0:23:47 > 0:23:51and see every tray that's been shipped...
0:23:51 > 0:23:54The way they were shipped, how many were shipped, the date.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59Stanley and his father, Bertram, are looking back at their shipping records.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04This goes on year after year.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Then you get to '39.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10When I started.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13It's the first year.
0:24:13 > 0:24:19Bertram can remember how The German occupation of the Islands in World War Two halted production.
0:24:19 > 0:24:25And how, paradoxically, liberation helped the family business start producing for the mainland again.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32I thought the War was going to finish, so I started...
0:24:32 > 0:24:39I planted tomatoes with the Germans still on the...on sentry duty.
0:24:39 > 0:24:46Of course I was planting tomatoes and my uncle came along and he said, "You must be mad.
0:24:46 > 0:24:52"The War is not finished yet. You won't be able to ship your tomatoes because there will be no transport."
0:24:52 > 0:24:57In other words, there was more transport because they were bringing supplies in.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00It all worked very well.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07By the 1950s, the British economy was booming and the demand
0:25:07 > 0:25:12for what had once been luxury items like tomatoes was growing quickly.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15The tomato industry had been built up before the War.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18But suddenly there was this huge demand for fruit
0:25:18 > 0:25:23because the English in particular had been starved of it for six years.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27And so, the Jersey grower was very quick to see the potential
0:25:27 > 0:25:32and there were vast areas of outdoor tomatoes grown in the late 1940s
0:25:32 > 0:25:36around 3,500 acres.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45What helped producers like those on Jersey to meet the growing demand was the glasshouse.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50After the War, glass became much more available and cheap to produce,
0:25:50 > 0:25:55and building techniques and materials made the houses relatively simple to construct.
0:25:59 > 0:26:05This is a picture taken in 1955 by one of my father's merchants
0:26:05 > 0:26:10and it illustrates well how the industry has changed.
0:26:10 > 0:26:16By the 1960s, large glasshouses were becoming an established feature of the rural landscape.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23This portrays a little bit of glass and a lot of open fields,
0:26:23 > 0:26:28which were all, at that time, all cultivated with tomatoes.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Every little corner was cultivated with outdoor tomatoes.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36We now have glass all along this area.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40And further down, further down towards the coast.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44So the whole site has changed.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51And as Stanley and his father built new blocks, they developed new growing techniques.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57They added irrigation systems and they pumped in carbon dioxide.
0:26:57 > 0:27:04Their houses created the optimum growing conditions and results were spectacular.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06If I turn the clock back...
0:27:08 > 0:27:14..and look at the way the family started growing tomatoes,
0:27:14 > 0:27:20my grandfather or great grandfather was producing something less than a pound a plant.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24And here we are in 2008 producing the equivalent
0:27:24 > 0:27:29of over 40 lbs of weight in a plant.
0:27:29 > 0:27:35So it really just shows how things have moved on.
0:27:37 > 0:27:43Stanley Payn built his last and largest glasshouse in the late 1990s.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48As glasshouses became ever larger, the cost of building them
0:27:48 > 0:27:52brought new and much bigger companies into tomato production.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14This one in Norfolk is state of the art.
0:28:14 > 0:28:21The last phase was built in 2007 at a cost of 10 million pounds. Well beyond the Payns' budget.
0:28:26 > 0:28:32It covers more than 25 acres and produces 70 million tomatoes each year.
0:28:32 > 0:28:38It's owned by one of the biggest food based multinationals in Britain, British Sugar.
0:28:38 > 0:28:46And it's managed by a real evangelist for large-scale production, Nigel Bartle.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Nigel has been at it for a long time.
0:28:48 > 0:28:54That was way back when, when I first started growing things
0:28:54 > 0:28:57and that was the infamous Wendy house covered in polythene
0:28:57 > 0:29:02which I've been much maligned about by people over the years about having a Wendy house.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06But it was a Wendy house converted into a greenhouse
0:29:06 > 0:29:12so it was, you could say, a novel adapted structure for protected cropping.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18Looking back 21 years to that Wendy house,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21with a few bedding plants, a few tomato plants,
0:29:21 > 0:29:26now across to 26.5 acres of glass, a quarter of a million plants.
0:29:26 > 0:29:31If you'd asked me that back then, I don't think I'd quite have believed you.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38I would hope that a Victorian grower would recognise one of our tomato plants as being a tomato plant.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41The way we grow them is very different because we've adapted.
0:29:41 > 0:29:46The key bit is we've got to keep adapting. We cannot stand still.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52People have got to adapt to be able to survive.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54These cathedral-like structures
0:29:54 > 0:29:59have become the symbol of the horticulturalists' final triumph over nature.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03In here the concept of the growing season becomes fairly meaningless,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07tomatoes can be picked from February to November.
0:30:07 > 0:30:15Horticulture actually is the epitome of what's happened in 20th century agriculture.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20It is the area where what every farmer would like to do in a way
0:30:20 > 0:30:25has come true. The total control of climatic conditions
0:30:25 > 0:30:32and gearing climatic conditions totally towards increasing your yield.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35That's all it's about, and you, in theory at least,
0:30:35 > 0:30:40and unless something disastrous goes wrong, you can actually do that.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42Year in, year out.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47By the end of the century the revolution in output was complete.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50The phenomenal increase in fruit and vegetable yields
0:30:50 > 0:30:53was beyond anything that had been thought possible before the War.
0:30:53 > 0:31:00But alongside the revolution in production, the years after 1945 witnessed other radical changes,
0:31:00 > 0:31:05this time in the way fruit and vegetables were picked and sold.
0:31:06 > 0:31:11Agriculture as a whole in the 20th century has increased its yield enormously.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15Much of the harvesting of that has been dealt with by machine.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17Think of combine harvesters.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20Think even of battery milkers.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Think of potato diggers.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29But think about how you harvest a raspberry.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31Or a strawberry.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35Think about how, when you pick it, you squash it in your hands.
0:31:35 > 0:31:42A machine can't pick soft fruit and leave it whole and ready to sell in punnets in a supermarket.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46It might be able to harvest them enough to make jam, but even that's difficult.
0:31:48 > 0:31:55It's July in Wiltshire and Norman Parry's first crop of strawberries is ready for picking.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00Norman's solution to the problems farmers faced in picking soft fruit is simple.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02His customers pick their own.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05This is proving to be a very difficult corner to manage
0:32:05 > 0:32:08because everybody is going to the over-picked fruit.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15So I'm spending a lot of my time up here.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20At the end of the day, the only important thing is how much fruit there is in the baskets.
0:32:20 > 0:32:26This is Norman's big day of the year, the Strawberry and Steam Fair.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28CARNIVAL MUSIC PLAYS
0:32:34 > 0:32:42He hopes to pull in a crowd who, while enjoying the attractions, will hopefully pick a strawberry or two.
0:32:46 > 0:32:54This is our sort of premium marketing event, in high season, hopefully, to shift strawberries.
0:32:54 > 0:33:01Now, this year, because of a cool spring and a fairly cool summer, the fruit has hung on extremely well.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04The show's a little bit later than I would have liked.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08But because of the nature of steam engines, they move slowly from show to show.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11And this year, we had to go for the end of July.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14The gamble is, is it going to rain or is the weather going to be lovely?
0:33:14 > 0:33:19If it rains, well, basically, a lot of fruit rots.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24What tends to happen is the fruit gets picked from both angles.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27I make a conscious effort to feed people in from both ends.
0:33:27 > 0:33:33Either by sort of telling them where it is or having signposts and walkways to guide them in.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37You always end up with a gap in the middle where it hasn't been properly picked.
0:33:39 > 0:33:44The "pick your own" approach to fruit became very popular in the 1970s.
0:33:44 > 0:33:49Up until the '50s picking fruit had always been labour intensive,
0:33:49 > 0:33:51and the work was done mainly by women and children.
0:33:59 > 0:34:04This was traditional in the late 19th century and into the 20th.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09But by the time we get to the 1920s and 1930s,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13this casual pool of labour is declining for various reasons.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Some of them to do with the aspirations of women themselves.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19They simply don't want to do this,
0:34:19 > 0:34:25what was quite heavy, dirty and quite poorly paid work on the land.
0:34:30 > 0:34:36They were increasingly being drawn into the local towns to do cleaner work,
0:34:36 > 0:34:41to do shop work and office work, which was better paid.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46The drift from the land was stemmed by the need for labour during World War Two.
0:34:46 > 0:34:51Thousands of women, often from towns and cities, joined the Women's Land Army.
0:34:51 > 0:34:57The taste of farming that these women developed during the War led to some surprising outcomes.
0:34:59 > 0:35:07Their work in the women's Land Army often had quite a profound impact on their attitudes and expectations.
0:35:07 > 0:35:14Many of these urban-born women, although they recognised that the work was hard, really enjoyed it.
0:35:15 > 0:35:21There was a large trend after the War of women wanting to stay in the countryside
0:35:21 > 0:35:27to work in branches of agriculture and horticulture.
0:35:33 > 0:35:38It appealed to women for different reasons, in a way.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43It offered urban-born women a new sense of freedom.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46It gave them a chance to work outdoors.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48If you like, to convene with nature.
0:35:48 > 0:35:54And many of them speak about the pleasure of actually just working on the land,
0:35:54 > 0:35:59watching things grow, understanding where food comes from.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09So we do see a trend after the Second World War of women, if they can afford it,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12if they have perhaps got a small private income,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16actually paying to train professionally
0:36:16 > 0:36:21and many of them go to institutions like Waterperry.
0:36:23 > 0:36:31Waterperry's Principal, Beatrix Havergal, and her partner, Avice Sanders, took on new young students.
0:36:31 > 0:36:32Jean Manger was one of them.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39January 20th 1946 I came here.
0:36:39 > 0:36:44It was a Monday. I came out on the bus from Gloucester Green in Oxford
0:36:44 > 0:36:51and I was met at Wheatley by Miss Sanders in the little Austin car, Austin Seven,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55and brought out, and I was taken in to see Miss H,
0:36:55 > 0:37:01and immediately she said, "Right, if you go out and you find Rosemary,
0:37:01 > 0:37:07"she will take you to the tool shed where you will find a spade and she will show you how to dig."
0:37:08 > 0:37:13As it was a girls only college, there was no equality of the sexes.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19Education was nearly always segregated in those days.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21You had girls' schools and boys' schools.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25There were very few places where girls could go to learn.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30And so if you set a place up for girls, then you made it just girls.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34And also, I think, probably, it was easier for them
0:37:34 > 0:37:40to achieve what they wanted to do if they hadn't got the competition of men with them.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43I think this had a lot to do with it really.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47If you were segregated, you were able to concentrate on what you were doing more.
0:37:47 > 0:37:54There wasn't the... you know, the added "interests" of a mixed community, perhaps.
0:37:55 > 0:38:01Oh, she expected absolutely the tops, that you gave your very best.
0:38:01 > 0:38:06So she was very careful in her training and teaching.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08So that that was passed on to us
0:38:08 > 0:38:14so that the theory and the practice worked well together
0:38:14 > 0:38:18and from that students really did get a good grounding.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Gradually, Waterperry gave me a very great deal of confidence
0:38:27 > 0:38:31and I think enabled me to develop a career of my own.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35I think without it I don't know how I would have gone on.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40So I always look back on the time at Waterperry as a very happy time,
0:38:40 > 0:38:45but also a time that helped me to develop my life, sensibly.
0:38:47 > 0:38:53While some left to forge their own careers, others became teachers at Waterperry.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58I was asked if I wanted to stay on or whether I wanted to go back...
0:38:58 > 0:39:03you know, to report back to the Land Army and go to somewhere else.
0:39:03 > 0:39:10But I was very happy here and she seemed very happy in what I was doing and so that was it.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12It was just...I just stayed.
0:39:17 > 0:39:23In developing careers in horticulture in the '50s, Jean and Mary were unusual.
0:39:23 > 0:39:28In orchards like the one owned by the Hoskyns family in South Somerset,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31women were part of a casual and unskilled workforce.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35Picking fruit in the late summer, sometimes with their children,
0:39:35 > 0:39:39they were often the wives or mothers of estate workers.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43Maurice Lane worked on the fruit farm from the age of 11.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46There I am changing the wheel.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51And I had hair in those days, look!
0:39:55 > 0:40:00Maurice worked for the Hoskyns family all his life.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04I suppose it was...
0:40:04 > 0:40:08There was a special time when
0:40:08 > 0:40:12everyone came to pick apples because everyone knew that
0:40:12 > 0:40:19the apples were ready and you didn't have to ask people to come, they just came.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23You just sort of drew all the people from around,
0:40:23 > 0:40:28round the villages and they knew when it was apple-picking time, and...
0:40:28 > 0:40:32the whole crowd came. That's my mother, there.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36She looks so young, so happy there.
0:40:36 > 0:40:42It's unbelievable that we only lost her a couple of years ago.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47That's Norman Hamlin, he's putting mother's bag on.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50As usual, Mum was so short,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54that she had to put her bag up a bit higher
0:40:54 > 0:40:57so she didn't drop the apples in and bruise them.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01That time, you'll never see again.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05It was so special because of the togetherness
0:41:05 > 0:41:09of everyone picking and putting into the same box.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14And the chat you had around the trees,
0:41:14 > 0:41:19you could hear the women shouting from one tree to the other
0:41:19 > 0:41:24until the management came around and then it quietened down a bit.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31Sad to see all the people have left us,
0:41:31 > 0:41:35but it's lovely to be able to look at the ladies
0:41:35 > 0:41:40and think, I knew you.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55Once the apples had been picked, they were packed on site.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58The bomb trolley laden with full bushel boxes
0:41:58 > 0:42:04was reversed into and unloaded straight into what would have been the store and packing area.
0:42:07 > 0:42:15In the '50s, all the apples were picked into 40lb boxes, what we call a wooden apple bushel box.
0:42:22 > 0:42:27If you come through here into the old grading room that you would have seen
0:42:27 > 0:42:29on the archive footage.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33We're now in the grading room which is full, effectively, of farm junk.
0:42:41 > 0:42:42Through here...
0:42:44 > 0:42:47..coincidentally, there is a...
0:42:47 > 0:42:49Just turn the lights on properly...
0:42:51 > 0:42:53A bit of the packing equipment
0:42:53 > 0:42:58that featured in the archive footage.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00This is where the lady was
0:43:00 > 0:43:07packing her apples individually into some wraps which are still...
0:43:07 > 0:43:09Still here.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14So there is a piece of tissue paper
0:43:14 > 0:43:18with my grandfather's Parrett brand Somerset trademark.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21It would have sat here, probably the other way up.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26Picked it up, put the cheek of the apple in against the logo,
0:43:26 > 0:43:30turned it over, twizzled it round, into the bushel box.
0:43:30 > 0:43:36The bushel box went up over the rollers onto some more rollers and out to dispatch.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44So, a little bit of history we haven't got rid of.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47Unfortunately, the grader wasn't quite so lucky.
0:44:01 > 0:44:08Just 20 years later, this way of picking and packing apples had disappeared.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12By the mid 1970s, the Somerset apple growers were in crisis.
0:44:13 > 0:44:19In the '70s, when we joined the Common Market, it was a disaster for English apple farmers.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Overnight, this building became redundant.
0:44:25 > 0:44:32Britain had joined the Common Market in 1973 and the impact on fruit farmers was profound.
0:44:32 > 0:44:38British producers found themselves in competition with other Common Market countries
0:44:38 > 0:44:41in what was now one large free market.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46The price of apples coming into England fell through the floor,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49and it lasted for several years and that is when fruit farmers
0:44:49 > 0:44:52'had to get together with other farmers to share overheads,
0:44:52 > 0:44:57'co-operatives were formed, it really took 15 or 20 years
0:44:57 > 0:45:01'to get back to a situation where we were relatively stable.'
0:45:01 > 0:45:06The Hoskyns survived, but many were driven out of business.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08Whole areas of the West Country landscape were changed
0:45:08 > 0:45:13as orchards were neglected, or worse, grubbed out.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20As the orchards disappeared so did the local pickers.
0:45:20 > 0:45:25They were replaced through another Common Market principle, the free movement of labour.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34This Herefordshire strawberry plantation is typical of that trend.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41We've been growing strawberries on this farm since the late '90s
0:45:41 > 0:45:46and we have always used Eastern European labour since we've been doing it.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50That was predominantly Polish and Lithuanian
0:45:50 > 0:45:53and countries that have now entered the EU.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59It's a good guaranteed source of reliable labour.
0:45:59 > 0:46:04People that come on a set date, go home on a set date.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09They come with a specific target in mind of what they want to earn, and hence are very reliable.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17They have 140 acres of strawberry beds and the precise layout is
0:46:17 > 0:46:22designed specifically to facilitate efficient and mechanised picking.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27Strawberry farming now is all about efficiencies, really.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31This field, when we set it up last autumn, was marked out
0:46:31 > 0:46:34with a GPS system to make sure that we made the maximum use
0:46:34 > 0:46:39of our available space, make sure that every row is straight.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42So when the tunnel legs were drilled, they were very straight.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45The rigs you see behind us, fitted up here perfectly.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47There was no room for error.
0:46:53 > 0:46:59These picking rigs help aid us to pick the fruit more efficiently, really.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01They do that by presenting the picker
0:47:01 > 0:47:05with the fruit as they're literally held above the fruit
0:47:05 > 0:47:10and limiting all the other things they have to do, all the other operations, so they just pick.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15All the sort of lugging fruit about, scanning it and grading it
0:47:15 > 0:47:20and quality control is taken out by the supervisor who stands up on the deck.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23- OK, what's your tray count so far?- Huh?
0:47:23 > 0:47:25How many trays?
0:47:27 > 0:47:32'We don't want to be paying the pickers to sort of stand around or go to the toilet.'
0:47:32 > 0:47:36They have allotted breaks, sort of 15 minutes, about half past nine...
0:47:36 > 0:47:40But apart from that if we want their picking ability maximised,
0:47:40 > 0:47:44so we have them spending as much time as they can
0:47:44 > 0:47:46next to the fruit, picking.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Compared with hand pickers, hand-picking gangs out in the field,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59they improved productivity by 25%.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05They seem to be 100% happier on the rig because they have to do half as much work
0:48:05 > 0:48:10and they generally tend to get paid more handsomely just through the presentation of the fruit.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14It's all there for them, they don't have to do anything.
0:48:14 > 0:48:15Happy pickers.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21- Do you like working on the rig? - Yeah. It's nice.- It's nice? - It's easy.- Really?
0:48:21 > 0:48:24Easier than hand picking, yeah.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28What if I said tomorrow you're going hand picking?
0:48:28 > 0:48:29I'm going to hate you!
0:48:29 > 0:48:31THEY LAUGH
0:48:31 > 0:48:37In the past, it used to be argued that the farm worker was somebody special,
0:48:37 > 0:48:39he actually sowed what he reaped.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42He followed the process all the way through.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46He was peculiarly close to the land and often in mythical ways
0:48:46 > 0:48:48this gave him a special status.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51This simply is not the case any more.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56Farm work is now divided, it's like factory work.
0:48:56 > 0:49:02People carry out one process as part of a whole set of processes.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14Now, what follows from the division of labour, it used to be argued and
0:49:14 > 0:49:18to some extent is still argued, is what was called alienation.
0:49:18 > 0:49:24That you no longer feel connected to, you no longer identify with your work.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27One of the things that used to be said about a farm worker,
0:49:27 > 0:49:34was that he or she had an absolute commitment to, belief in, a love of their farm and their job.
0:49:34 > 0:49:41If you look at modern horticulture, one cannot even begin to think that that's the case now.
0:49:51 > 0:49:57And the years after 1970 saw not only changes in the way fruit was picked,
0:49:57 > 0:50:01they also witnessed huge changes in the way it was sold.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06These strawberries are not bound for local greengrocers.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11They are bound for a supermarket that has a direct contract with the growers.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16For many years, horticulturalists would sell their produce at the market in the nearest town.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23Or, if they were a larger grower, they'd send their produce to wholesale markets
0:50:23 > 0:50:26like Covent Garden and from there onto local greengrocers.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35What begins to change as the 20th century goes on,
0:50:35 > 0:50:41is that the other end of the chain, the grocery end, the retail end
0:50:41 > 0:50:47becomes more and more centralised and more and more "nationalised",
0:50:47 > 0:50:51i.e. national in scope.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55Firms like Sainsbury's, like Lipton's,
0:50:55 > 0:51:01like a whole range of other companies, Mac Fisheries, many of them long forgotten now,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04moved from being one or two shops in a town
0:51:04 > 0:51:09to being 20 or 30 shops in an area, to being 50 and 100 shops.
0:51:12 > 0:51:19Very quickly, the purchasing power of these chains becomes enormous and very quickly they recognise
0:51:19 > 0:51:24the power and importance of their purchasing abilities.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30And growers were quick to seize the new opportunities on offer.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33Instead of having 50 different customers,
0:51:33 > 0:51:34you just had one big customer,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38nice, regular business, and...
0:51:38 > 0:51:41the horticulturists were happy, they were happy to do it.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46It didn't last for very long because it became increasingly clear there were risks
0:51:46 > 0:51:52to having put all your eggs, or all your apples in the supermarket basket.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56And it's really a case of make a pact with the devil,
0:51:56 > 0:52:00because you've lost your other customers by helping the supermarkets
0:52:00 > 0:52:04because you put all the independent greengrocers out of business.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07But then you're in bed with these people and they just see you
0:52:07 > 0:52:13as people who they can get lower and lower prices from.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15By the end of the 20th century,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19the structure of horticultural production and selling had changed radically.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23The story of the tomato illustrates well what happened.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28The number of growers shrank dramatically.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32In 1970 there were over 700 tomato producers.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36By 2005 that number had dwindled to just 40.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42In the search for lower and lower prices,
0:52:42 > 0:52:46supermarkets began to buy fruit and vegetables from across the world.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53MAN: 'They say the best things come in pairs. Well, it's certainly true
0:52:53 > 0:52:55'that some of the best pears come from the Cape.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59'And that's true for the apples as well, Golden Delicious.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01'How well this variety is named!'
0:53:04 > 0:53:07In Britain, as the profit margins got smaller and smaller,
0:53:07 > 0:53:12it was the large companies, like the one managed by Nigel Bartle, that prospered.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16The vast glasshouses he manages are able to deliver a uniform product
0:53:16 > 0:53:19in enough volume to be competitive.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27The single fruit work their way up to underneath this box, and in there are cameras.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30As it heads into the camera, the camera will look at the fruit,
0:53:30 > 0:53:34photograph it about seven times a second as it rotates.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37From that it will have a good idea of the overall colour.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40Then moves on and under this section there is a weigh cell,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44so the computer knows what colour it is,
0:53:44 > 0:53:48it will then weigh it, and knows the relationship between the weight and diameter.
0:53:48 > 0:53:49It then drops it into a cup,
0:53:49 > 0:53:54it heads off down the grader and it will come out in different areas
0:53:54 > 0:53:56according to both the size and the colour.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02So we get lots of uniform tomatoes, uniform size and colour.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11But for the very small grower there was an alternative -
0:54:11 > 0:54:15to grow a premium product such as organic tomatoes.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19Peter Le Maistre does just that, and he's surviving, even though
0:54:19 > 0:54:25the dreadful weather in the summer of 2008 has played havoc with his crop.
0:54:26 > 0:54:32This crop suffered quite badly and of course that's the downside of organic growing,
0:54:32 > 0:54:38when the weather is against you it's difficult to get a full harvest.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41Probably in here, I know we're right at the end of the season,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45but I'll probably only pick about a third of the tomatoes that I would have liked.
0:54:46 > 0:54:53The cost of growing a conventional crop where you're using chemicals and artificial fertilisers...
0:54:53 > 0:55:00Which are at this moment in time going up by anything between 30 and 100%.
0:55:00 > 0:55:07The organic grower doesn't use those inputs and so we may be able to
0:55:07 > 0:55:12remain very competitive in the market place in the future.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15There is an acceptance with the organic buyer
0:55:15 > 0:55:21that you don't have to have perfect, unmarked fruit for it to be very tasty.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26So that's given us a slight edge and reason to think we can be
0:55:26 > 0:55:30successful growing outdoor tomatoes for the years to come.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34But when you want to expand, suddenly you need supermarkets
0:55:34 > 0:55:38because they've got 90% of the business.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47I think there will be people who fall by the wayside because I think it's going to be very difficult
0:55:47 > 0:55:55for people to survive in the current climate unless the prices for some fruit and vegetables go up.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00Those who suffered were the mid-sized producers,
0:56:00 > 0:56:05those who couldn't afford to scale up their production to meet the prices demanded by the supermarkets.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12People like Stanley Payn on Jersey.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15His business went the way of many like him -
0:56:15 > 0:56:21the 2008 season of producing tomatoes for the mainland was his very last.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38The Payns have been growing on Jersey for 100 years
0:56:38 > 0:56:43but now they are cutting down the plants in this glass house for the very last time.
0:56:45 > 0:56:50All I've ever known really is talking tomatoes,
0:56:50 > 0:56:55growing tomatoes, packaging tomatoes, selling tomatoes...
0:56:55 > 0:57:03We can't keep borrowing money to finance supermarkets, there's no return.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07At the end of the day, why should we, as...
0:57:07 > 0:57:13as a simple working family be subsidising a multinational?
0:57:17 > 0:57:23Which is all very tragic, really, because it's a whole industry that's gone.
0:57:23 > 0:57:28All the skills will disappear forever,
0:57:28 > 0:57:31never to be replaced.
0:57:31 > 0:57:36But that's... That's the way of the world,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39everybody wants everything for nothing.
0:57:40 > 0:57:46We've always been a bit of a large village here with over 50 employees.
0:57:46 > 0:57:51There's always noise, there's always activity
0:57:51 > 0:57:55and everything is just going to be totally silent.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58Very eerie.
0:58:06 > 0:58:13Go back 10 years ago, even eight years ago, we were a name, and now we're just a number.
0:58:13 > 0:58:18If that number isn't there next year nobody's really going to mind.
0:58:50 > 0:58:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:53 > 0:58:56E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk