ABSTRACT
Using a unique collection of the papers from West Ward District Sub-Committee of the Westmorland County War Agricultural Executive Committee (CWAEC) for the Great War, this chapter examines the impact of war on the daily lives of a small group of farmers in the old county of Westmorland in the north of England. It outlines the development of agricultural policy over the course of the war considering both production targets and the control of labour and it describes the Westmorland achievement as reported by the county statistics. Targets were met through the combined effect of numerous adaptations by individual farmers; using the farmers' own words, the chapter then examines the environmental and technical challenges, the problems of labour shortage, and the inter-personal conflicts that lay behind the physical achievement. Finally it argues that despite the successful achievement of wartime policy targets, directed production left farmers and landlords with an unwanted legacy.
