LIVING LIFE ON THE VEG

It is easy to forget that most of the countryside landscapes we love are looked after by our farmers and growers. From Devon’s patchwork fields to remote Highland crofts, the food this hard-working community grows doesn’t just impact our nation’s health and economy, it has far-reaching effects on our local and global environments.

LAND LONG WORKED

Although the term ‘agriculture’ originated in the 17th century, we have been growing in the UK since prehistoric times. We don’t know exactly what turned our hunter-gatherer ancestors into farmers, but as different influences came and went, so did our farming methods. The Romans rotated crops with fallow fields, the Danes and Saxons opted for strip farming, and the Normans liked eating pork. The 1800s initially saw a golden farming age