This a picture of my father showing sugar beet grown on reclaimed boggy land to Tom Williams, the Labour Minister of Agriculture from 1945-51. Growing sugar beet on the thin soil at Warnford was only possible because of the improving effect of having previously kept pigs. In 1941, there were 60 acres of sugar beet under cultivation and the photograph below is captioned "Topping the Beet". It goes on to say that "about 18% of pure sugar is extracted from the beet, while tops and remaining pulp make valuable feeding-stuffs".
Sugar beet production was clearly an important part of my father's strategy for developing Warnford and in 1946 he hosted a demonstration of sugar beet harvesting machinery.
And here is a picture of the (very well-dressed!) attendees on the lawn outside our house!
