ABSTRACT
Wealth is a shadowy but potent component among the factors that determine the position of the agricultural community within society. Wealth is important because it gives rise not only to income in a variety of forms but also because it provides security, freedom of manoeuvre, and economic and political power. It is commonly believed that farmers live poor but die rich. There is some truth in this assertion, at least for land-owning farmers in post-war Britain. A rather special position is reserved for land, the asset which is the prime feature of farming and farmers. In the eyes of the law in the UK wealth in the form of land is not the land itself but rather the bundle of rights which are associated with the land. The protection and enforceability of rights over land form part of the legal framework of the nation, but this framework is not immutable.
