Cereals processing technology

8 Cereals processing technology
Fig. 2.1 Area of cereals in Great Britain, 1898–1998. (Source: Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food.)
the production of beer and spirits, whilst a greater reliance was placed on
imported rather than home produced wheat for human consumption.
With the outbreak of the Second World War the need to reduce reliance on
imported North American wheat resulted in a major Government initiative to
promote cereal production in Britain. This ‘ploughing out’ campaign was
successful in increasing the cultivation of wheat and oats on land which hitherto
had been considered only marginal for cereal production. Following the end of
hostilities the area of wheat and barley remained above those of the pre-war
period, due in part to the introduction of a guaranteed price support mechanism
for cereals, and the introduction of appropriate machinery to assist cultivation
and crop establishment. As the tractor replaced the farm horse the demand for
feed oats declined, a trend which has continued to the present time.
During the 1950s barley became the most important cereal crop after it was
demonstrated that the grain could be satisfactorily fed to farm animals under
more intensive systems of production. In parts of southern England continuous
spring barley growing was practised with the adoption of increased mechanisation
on large fields made possible through the removal of hedges and ditches.
This trend continued until the mid 1960s when the profitability of continuous
barley began to decline as production costs began to escalate and the agronomic
limitations of continuous cereal production became more apparent.
Between 1945 and 1970 the area of wheat remained fairly static, year to year
variation being largely accounted for by the climate during the autumn. Unlike
barley most wheat crops at that time were autumn sown; consequently in a wet