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The film opens with a montage of stills, archive film, graphic statistics and literature about the changes to Britain's farms since the Second World War. We see how grasslands were ploughed up and the increasing mechanisation and the effect of the Common Market eventually led to the subsidies and grain mountain of the 1980s. Interviewed about current situation are: Doctor Malcolm Bell of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology; David Brown of Laurence Gould Consultants Ltd; and Simon Gourlay, President of the National Farmers Union. We see aerials of farm land and modern mechanised grain farming. Next, we hear from the farmers themselves about the situation. Shropshire based farmers Gordon Tonkinson and Jack Onslow talk about the decline of the tenant farmer system and Gloucestershire farmer Jeremy Chamberlayne calls for a reduction in the use of chemicals. We see Tonkinson and Onslow at work on their small livestock farms in Shropshire. A theory that a reduction in yields could be put into place alongside a greater emphasis on organic farming is put forward by Patrick Holden of the Soil Association and Julian Rose who is an organic farmer.
Cameramen - Julian White, David Hutchins
Time lapse and specialist photography - Oxford Scientific Films
Sound - Dennis Fitch, Tony Dutton, Colin Martin
Production Secretary - Annie Clarke
Production Assistant - Jenny Wright
Graphics - Stuart Kettle
Film Editor - Derek Hall
Research - Kathleen Darby
Producer - Vivica Parsons
Director - Paul Cleary
(listed at start only: Commentary by James Bellini)
Central Television production number 8003/87.