5. Farming 1976/77

Most people of a certain age will remember 1976 as ‘the long hot summer’, the first time a hose pipe ban was imposed on most of the country. Nearly all crops suffered, especially combinable crops. Sheriffs Court Farm grew wheat, barley, peas, potatoes and onions. The country imported a lot of grain in the 1970’s, two tons of wheat an acre was a good average then, the 1976 harvest was way down on this. Root crops fared better because they could be irrigated. But what most people do not remember about the weather in 1976 was that October and November were very wet months. Potatoes and onions were then harvested in these months. Many farms, like Sheriffs Court, were unable to harvest all their crops. The consequences of the years extreme weather conditions led to huge rises in the price of bread and vegetables.

I started work for Fullers at Sheriffs Court Farm at the end of 1976. As there was a twenty acre field of onions, next to Marsh Farm Road in Minster still to be harvested, I spent a few months on this field, weather permitting, picking up the onions by hand. There were about ten of us and we picked up two or three trailer loads a day. (Ask Brenda Graham). On more than one occasion the ground froze and to pick up the onions Norman would have to loosen them with his garden hoe.

There were still potatoes in the ground. They were eventually harvested in April at a time when the 1977 crop was being planted.

Usually when root crops could not be harvested in the autumn they would be ploughed-in and planted in wheat when possible. As there was such a shortage and the good prices, this was not done in 1976.

As a result of these extreme conditions leading to high prices in the shops farmers made good profits. This in turn led to new machinery on the farm. A new New Holland 1545 combine, a John Deere 3031 tractor and a 9 ton Norton trailer.

Terry Marsh

Originally published in the Monkton News (January 2025).