Agriculture in Capitalist Europe, 1945–1960: From food shortages to food surpluses (Rural Worlds)

In the years before the Second World War agriculture in most European states was carried out on peasant or small family farms using technologies that relied mainly on organic inputs and local knowledge and skills, supplying products into a market that was partly local or national, partly international. The war applied a profound shock to this system. In some countries farms became battlefields, causing the extensive destruction of buildings, crops and livestock. In others, farmers had to respond to calls from the state for increased production to cope with the effects of wartime disruption of international trade. By the end of the war food was rationed when it was obtainable at all. Only fifteen years later the erstwhile enemies were planning ways of bringing about a single agricultural market across much of continental western Europe, as farmers mechanised, motorized, shed labour, invested capital, and adopted new technologies to increase output. This volume brings together scholars working on this period of dramatic technical, commercial and political change in agriculture, from the end of the Second World War to the emergence of the Common Agricultural Policy in the early 1960s. Their work is structured around four themes: the changes in the international political order within which agriculture operated; the emergence of a range of different market regulation schemes that preceded the CAP; changes in technology and the extent to which they were promoted by state policy; and the impact of these political and technical changes on rural societies in western Europe. Notes On Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- European Agriculture 1945-1960 : An Introduction / Paul Brassley, Carin Martiin And Juan Pan-montojo -- International Politics -- International Institutions And European Agriculture : From The Iia To The Fao / Juan Pan-montojo -- Political Stability, Modernization And Reforms During The First Years Of The Cold War / Emanuele Bernardi -- International Agricultural Markets After The War, 1945-1960 / Ángel Luis Gonzalez, Vicente Pinilla And Raúl Serrano -- Market Regulation And The Motives Behind It -- The Policy Of Self-sufficiency And Its Impact Upon Rural Modernization In Greece, 1928-1960 / Socrates D. Petmezas -- British Agriculture In Transition : Food Shortages To Food Surpluses, 1947-1957 / John Martin -- From Food Surplus To Even Greater Food Surplus : Agrarian Politics And Prices In Denmark, 1945-1962 / Thomas Christiansen -- Technical Change -- Mechanisation And Motorisation : Natural Resources, Knowledge, Politics And Technology In 19/20th Centuries Agriculture / Juri Auderset And Peter Moser -- Technology Policies In Dictatorial Contexts : Spain And Portugal / Daniel Lanero And Lourenzo Fernández-prieto -- Tractorization : France 1946-1955 / Laurent Herment -- Rural Society And Structural Policy -- Structural Policy And The State : Changing Agricultural Society In Belgium And The Netherlands, 1945-1960 / Erwin H. Karel And Yves Segers -- From Food Scarcity To Overproduction : Saving The German Peasant During The Miracle Years / Gesine Gerhard -- Farm Labour In The Urban-industrial Swedish State / Carin Martiin -- Similar Means To Secure Postwar Food Supplies Across Western Europe : A Conclusion / Juan Pan-montojo, Carin Martiin And Paul Brassley. Edited By Carin Martiin, Juan Pan-montojo And Paul Brassley. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of tables Notes on contributors Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1 European agriculture, 1945–1960: an introduction Part I International politics 2 International institutions and European agriculture: from the IIA to the FAO 3 Political stability, modernization and reforms during the first years of the Cold War 4 International agricultural markets after the war, 1945–1960 Part II Market regulation and the motives behind it 5 The policy of wheat self-sufficiency and its impact upon rural modernization in Greece, 1928–1960 6 British agriculture in transition: food shortages to food surpluses, 1947–1957 7 From food surplus to even more food surplus: agrarian politics and prices in Denmark, 1945–1962 Part III Technical change 8 Mechanisation and motorisation: natural resources, knowledge, politics and technology in 19th- and 20th-century agriculture 9 Technology policies in dictatorial contexts: Spain and Portugal 10 Tractorisation: France, 1946–1955 Part IV Rural society and structural policy 11 Structural policy and the State: changing agricultural society in Belgium and the Netherlands, 1945–1960 12 From food scarcity to overproduction: saving the German peasant during the miracle years 13 Farm labour in the urban–industrial Swedish welfare state Conclusion 14 Similar means to secure postwar food supplies across Western Europe Index