NEW Farming on Film 4

The fourth volume in this award winning series features more films shot by working farmers and their staff, but also follows their crops into factories that turn it into processed foods. It ranges over half a century from idyllic 1939 harvest scenes of working horses, men and binders, through steam cultivation, vintage tractors and the early stages of mechanisation of crops like sugar beet and potatoes right up to 4-wheel drive articulated tractors in 1989. Along the way, we watch a wheelwright fitting steel rims to wooden cart wheels; work through reed cutting and thatching; look at how farmers attempted to stop the spread of Foot and Mouth disease in 1967 and watch planes and helicopters spray crops with products developed by scientists seen at work. Grain, potato and pea harvests are shown, as is the beet harvesting ‘campaign’, but this time we don’t stop as the crops leave the field. We follow them on their journey to the food processing factories where innovative technologies and that modern bugbear, plastic packing, create products for a new shopping experience - supermarkets.  Written & narrated by Alan Stennett. Running time 1hr 15 mins.