ABSTRACT
The examination of how practices of technological change were taken up, and how they were experienced on the ground, reveals a more nuanced understanding of agricultural heritage with respect to how ambitions for the future were founded upon complex and fluid notions of tradition and contemporary contingency. Following a short reflection on why and how certain narratives of modern agricultural heritage get revered and others glossed over, this chapter explores just one post-war process of agricultural modernisation – that of the transition from hay-making to silage production. Favouring stories of horse ploughs and hay making, and ignoring the heritage of giant forage harvesters, barbed wire and how the latest breeds of cattle were developed would tell only a partial story. Place-bound and personal heritage narratives should also include stories of how effective silage making was associated with substantial financial investment, high-tech machinery, application of complex science and the use of specialist contract labour services.
