Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
household jug or container. Similar devices operate successfully on farms in Aus-
tria. Street corner vending machines, loaded daily by the farmer with churn-sized
cartridges, could provide fresh milk in villages and town neighbourhoods only a
few hours after milking. Churns can be moved manually (so pumping machinery is
not necessary) and are a convenient size for smaller herds.
• Getting fresh milk into larger towns would require sophisticated logistics, perhaps
based, as before, upon milk trains. Milk deliveries might make a comeback in
towns, and might be horse-drawn, since the milkman can advance the vehicle
without mounting, just by calling to the horse, who is familiar with the route. But
even in cities, the street corner dispensing machine has the benefit of reducing the
amount of packaging and eliminating the burden of bottling, allowing for more
speedy delivery.
• Green belt land would be highly valued for agriculture; extensive ruralization would
free space in cities that could be used for market gardening. Urban contact with city
farms, particularly through school visits, would enhance city-dwellers' understand-
ing about where their food came from.
• Livestock markets would return to local towns, rendering the Market Towns Initiat-
ive (which ought really to be called the Marketless Towns Initiative) redundant. The
distance between market towns is a reflection of the distance the local populace and
traders could manage on foot in a day. In medieval Nottinghamshire the average
distance between all neighbouring markets was 3.25 miles and lawyers of the time
considered that markets on the same day needed to be at least 7.75 miles apart to
kets were 4.9 miles apart, and the most isolated villagers were 2.8 miles from a
distances of up to 12 miles before and after work - but that was in the days when
the rural economy was being wrenched apart. You don't have to travel very far in
a well furnished local economy. Market days have the advantage of combining sale
of produce, purchase of commodities, business meetings, public events and social
encounters on a single day which can be served by a frequent public transport ser-
vice. The disappearance of markets is a classic example of an economy of scale at
distribution level sacrificed to obtain economies of scale at production level.
• Over a certain radius (and depending on their value) livestock could be driven to
market. The activity of droving and even the profession of drover might return, for
example to bring stock from more remote areas for fattening. According to an 18th
century observer, driven livestock maintain their weight over the first 50 miles, and
then lose it very quickly if they travel any further; while in the US cattle would lose
