Information taken from HARGRAVE - A LOCAL PERSPECTIVE.
May 2004

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The soil-type of Hargrave is predominantly chalky boulder clay of the Hanslope series. This is a fairly heavy soil-type, and needs artificial drainage to make it suitable for the production of crops.

In mediaeval times the majority of this land would have been used for grazing animals, although undoubtedly even from these early times, some of the easier working soils would have been used for growing crops. It would have been a subsistence agriculture based on the Manorial system. Wheat and barley would have been grown, and some vegetable crops.

Not until the great period for farming in the 1850’s-1860’s would arable farming have begun to rival livestock farming for land use in Hargrave, and even then sheep grazing and cattle and pig production would still have been of major importance.

The big surge in arable farming came with the 2nd World War. The impetus for this was the need to be self-sufficient in food, and with tractors taking over as the providers of power on the land, the heavy soils became much more manageable. Government grants became available to help with land drainage, and these continued until the mid 1980’s. It was during this period from 1940 to 1985 that the present field sizes and shapes evolved. Many of the present hedges are ancient hedgerows and have remained unchanged for hundreds of years.

The main use of the land today is in arable farming, and about half of that land is growing wheat. Other crops currently grown are oilseed rape, barley, beans, and a small area of sugar beet. The grassland in the village is used for grazing sheep and a few beef cattle and also horses which are nowadays purely used for recreational purposes.

An enormous change in the appearance of the landscape of Hargrave occurred in the 1970’s, with the loss of virtually all the elm trees to Dutch Elm Disease. This had a far greater impact than any rationialisation of field boundaries, or hedge removal. In the last twenty years many hundreds of trees have been planted in the parish, and these will begin to have an effect on the landscape in the next century.

Decorative and recreational gardens are more important than ever before. Certainly up to about the mid 1950’s most of the village gardens would have been used for growing vegetables, and in many cases for keeping a pig, certainly an apple tree, and a small area of flower garden, usually near the front door.

The biggest difference between now and forty years ago in the arable farming is the yield of the crops grown. Forty years ago an acre of wheat would have produced between 1.5 and 2 tonnes of wheat, whereas today each acre will produce at least twice as much. Similarly yields of sugar beet and other crops have doubled in that time.

Before the 2nd World War the majority of the men in the village would have been farm workers, and even the women and children would have helped on the land at busy times, such as harvest and hay making. Now, at the end of the 20th Century there are no more than half a dozen farmers and farm workers working full time in the parish.

What of the future? All sectors of farming are in recession at the moment, with beef, sheep, pig meat, cereals, oil-seeds and proteins all at very low prices. I forsee no dramatic changes in the land use in Hargrave in the near or middle-term future. Wheat is what this land grows well, and wheat is what it will continue to grow. The second half of the 20th Century has seen a scientific revolution in farming. Plant breeding, plant nutrition, and herbicide and fungicide science have revolutionised cereal growing, resulting in a plentiful supply of food which is, in real terms, cheaper than ever before.
Environmental concerns, real or perceived, have recently become more prominent, and the agricultural industry has to, and is addressing these: all new chemicals have to go through many years of intensive tests and trials before they become available, and there are now strict rules covering the application of sprays and fertilizers.

Organic farming of crops may have a future to play in the land use of Hargrave, but it will only be a minor role on a very small proportion of the land.

Genetic modification, because of public concern and pressure, has been put back by several years, and possibly even for good.

Looking still further ahead, global warming may play a part in the future, with the wheat fields and sugar beet of East Anglia moving north to NE England and Eastern Scotland, and being replaced here by pasta wheat, soya beans and vines. Perhaps more of this in the next village survey in 100 years time!