ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 addresses the issue of how (arable) ‘good farmer’ symbols change over time. This new historical analysis reveals the strong connection between the development of new technologies and changes in the symbols of good farming. ‘Tidy farming’ emerged as machinery began to take over from implements in the late 19th century and, critically, as drill husbandry gradually replaced broadcast sowing. These changes required a different set of competencies from farmers. In addition, while ‘good’ broadcast sowing resulted in unbroken carpets of green, ‘good’ drill husbandry showed as thin straight lines with clear soil between for working the crops by machine. Initially farmers failed to understand the symbolic significance of the new drilled landscapes. We also explore why tidy ploughing symbolises ‘good farming’. We suggest it reveals three embodied characteristics – innate qualities, practice-based skills, and learned skills – that can be read from observing ploughing. The chapter concludes that symbolic change can take decades, if not, generations; that symbolic meaning can change rapidly as economic and social context changes; and, most importantly, that we are witnessing a progressive decline in the richness of symbolic meaning in farming as technology renders once skilled tasks semi-skilled, unskilled, or not performed at all.
