Department details

This administrative history covers the UK government departments which have been responsible for agriculture and for a number of related areas (such as horticulture, fisheries, food and the environment). In particular, it covers the following bodies:1

• The Board of Agriculture (1889-1903)
• The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries (1903-1919)
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (1919-1955)
• The Ministry of Food (1916-1921)
• The Ministry of Food (1939-1955)
• The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1955-2001)
• The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2001- )

A Board or Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture and Internal Improvement was constituted by Royal Charter in 1793 and wound up in 1822. It was succeeded in 1838 by the English Agricultural Society (renamed the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1840). The Board and the Society aimed to improve farming practice in England. Neither was really a government department, although the Board received an annual grant from the Exchequer.

Between 1836 and 1841 the government set up three bodies of Commissioners to deal with particular questions of land tenure: the Commissioners for Tithe, the Enclosure of Common Land, and the Enfranchisement of Copyhold Land. The three bodies were merged in 1882 to form a Land Commission of England responsible to the Home Secretary.

The Cattle Plague Department was established in 1865 to deal with an epidemic of the cattle plague known as rinderpest. At first the Department was a branch of the Home Office. It transferred to the Privy Council in 1866. In 1870 its title was changed to the Veterinary Department. In 1883 it became the Agricultural Department and took over from the Board of Trade's responsibility for the publication of the annual agricultural statistics. The statistics were collected by the Board of Inland Revenue.

The Board of Agriculture Act 1889 established a Board of Agriculture which took over the powers and duties of the Land Commissioners and those of the Agricultural Department. It was given responsibility also for the Ordnance Survey, the collection and preparation of agricultural (and forestry) statistics, and for agricultural and forestry research and education. The Board never met. Its powers were exercised by the President.

In 1903 the Board took over responsibility for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Also in 1903 the title of the Board was changed to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, under the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Act 1903. It took over the powers and duties of the Board of Trade, relating to salmon, freshwater and sea fisheries in England and Wales. In 1911 the Department relinquished its Scottish responsibilities to a Board of Agriculture for Scotland. However, it kept responsibility for the control of animal diseases and for the Ordnance Survey. At the beginning of 1917 a Food Production Department was established within the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries with a Director General responsible to the President. Its remaining functions were absorbed by the Board in 1919. In the same year the Board attained Ministry status under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Act 1919. This Act also established a joint Agricultural Advisory Committee for England and Wales and representative Councils of Agriculture for both countries. The Forestry Act 1919 established the Forestry Commission, which absorbed powers and duties related to forestry from the Ministry. The Ministry sponsored a diversity of projects during the next decade including the settlement of ex-servicemen on the land, the containment of pests and disease, and the development of agricultural research and education.

Although the Ministry was relieved of duties relating to the Tithe Acts on the formation of an independent Tithe Redemption Commission in 1936, the work of the Ministry underwent a general expansion during the 1930s. The Land Drainage Act 1930 gave the Ministry responsibility for unifying bodies concerned with arterial drainage into catchment boards and drainage boards. It also adopted measures to safeguard farmers’ incomes against the economic depression, and to establish food import limitations to protect the domestic markets, in addition to the tasks linked to the National Marks Schemes and the Agricultural Marketing Acts of 1931 and 1933. These were in response to the Linlithgow Committee on the Distribution and Prices of Agricultural Produce.

The Forestry Act 1945 authorised the Minister of Agriculture and the Secretary of State for Scotland to instruct the Forestry Commissioners, and transferred the ability to attain land and related property in England and Wales from the Forestry Commission to the Ministry. The representative Councils of Agriculture and the Agricultural Committee for England and Wales were disbanded under the Agriculture Act 1947, and replaced with the Agricultural Land Commission and Agricultural Land Tribunals. County Agricultural Executive Committees replaced the county council agricultural committees under the same Act. The Ministry provided advice via the National Agricultural Advisory Service, established in 1948.

In 1955 the Ministry of Food was merged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to form the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), by Statutory Instrument 554 of 1955, effected under the provisions of the Ministers of the Crown, Transfer of Functions Act 1946. The first Ministry of Food (1916-21) had been formed on 22 December 1916. It was empowered under the New Ministries and Secretaries Act 1916 to regulate food supply and consumption, and took steps to encourage food production. As its functions were depleted, the Ministry was dissolved on 31 March 1921, whilst the few remaining duties were divided between the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Board of Trade. A second Ministry of Food (1939-55) was established under an order of Council of 8 September 1939, and functions from the Board of Trade were returned to the Ministry. The Ministry became a permanent Department of State under the Ministers of the Crown, Transfer of Functions Act 1946. The organisation of the Ministry underwent many transitions but, in view of a reduction in its functions, a single Minister was appointed to the posts of Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and Minister of Food in April 1954. These posts were amalgamated the next year and the main food hygiene duties for England and Wales were passed to the Ministry of Health and, in Scotland, to the Secretary of State for Scotland.

In 2000 a Food Standards Agency was created to take over MAFF's responsibilities for food safety and standards issues. This included responsibility for the Meat Hygiene Service, which had been established as an Executive Agency of MAFF in 1995 when MAFF took over meat inspection duties from some 300 local authorities. After the creation of the Food Standards Agency MAFF continued to act as a sponsor department for the UK food and drink manufacturing and retailing industries, including responsibilities for marketing issues, competitiveness, the promotion of exports and EU regulations.

Responsibility for common lands and allotments, the Ordnance Survey and the Forestry Commission were passed from MAFF to the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources in 1965. The Ministry of Land and Natural Resources was dissolved in 1967 and responsibility for the Forestry Commission was returned to MAFF.

MAFF was responsible for the negotiation, and often the implementation, of international agricultural and food trade policy. It negotiated in the European Union on the Common Agricultural and Common Fisheries Policy, and for Single European Market issues, which related to its agriculture, fisheries and food industry responsibilities. These duties were carried out in association with other agricultural departments in the UK, and the Intervention Board. MAFF was also responsible for flooding and coastal erosion issues, under its broad remit to protect the public and to protect and enhance the countryside and marine environment. This work was an example of MAFF’s co-operation with other bodies, expressly its partnership with the Environment Agency.

Farmers, growers and ancillary industries received scientific, professional and technical services from MAFF. The Ministry commissioned research to assist in the formulation and assessment of policy, and to support industry-based research. Research was also undertaken to ensure the best use of internal resources in support of the Ministry’s aim to improve the economic performance of the agriculture, food and fishing industries. Policies for the protection of farm animals and the control of animal, plant and fish diseases were also administered by MAFF. The Ministry was the registration authority for pesticides and the licensing authority for veterinary medicines. Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland each had Agricultural Departments to carry out their own agricultural policies, although some of MAFF’s operations extended to cover the whole of Great Britain.

Following the general election in June 2001, MAFF was replaced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). DEFRA inherited all of MAFF's functions, including responsibility for agriculture, the food industry and fisheries. In addition, it took over responsibility for the environment, rural development, countryside, and the wildlife and sustainability responsibilities of the former Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), absorbing the DETR's Environment Protection Group and Wildlife and Countryside Directorate. Responsibility for certain animal welfare and hunting issues were transferred to DEFRA from the Home Office. It was announced that DEFRA would sponsor a number of important non-departmental public bodies, including the Environment Agency, the Countryside Agency, the Meat and Livestock Commission, Kew Gardens, English Nature, Food From Britain and the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.

Flood and Coastal Defence with Emergencies Division and predecessors

Land Drainage is defined under the Water Resources Act 1991 (amended by the Environment Agency Act 1995) to include defence against water, warping, irrigation, and the continuation of any other practice that involves the management of the level of water in a watercourse. The term has evolved alongside the divisions that manage its policy and operations. The Land Drainage Branch of the Board of Agriculture was responsible for land drainage and sea defence works from 1889, when it assumed control of the work carried out by the Land Commission of England that had been established under the Land Drainage Act 1861. The Land Drainage Act 1926 re-allocated certain powers in relation to land drainage from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, to county councils and county boroughs. The Land Drainage Act 1930 unified the various river catchment boards and drainage boards concerned with land drainage and sea defence, established a Land Drainage code of law, and increased funding available to the land drainage authorities. The Commercial, Land Drainage and Rural Life Division of the Ministry changed to become the Land Drainage, Publicity and Rural Life Division in 1935, and then the Land Drainage Division in 1938. This division focused solely on land drainage and sea defence issues, before it expanded to become the Land Drainage and Water Supply Division in 1944, and again in 1959, when it became the Land Drainage, Water Supply and Machinery Division.

Responsibility for flood protection and land drainage continued to shift, and in 1984 was held by the Land Drainage Division; in 1986 by the Flood Defence and Land Sales Division; and in 1989 by the Flood Defence Division. A Flood and Coastal Defence Division was established in 1993 within the Environment Policy Group of MAFF's Countryside, Marine Environment and Fisheries Directorate. By 1997, as a result of reorganisation within MAFF, it had been transferred to the Regional Services and Defence Group of the Agricultural, Crops and Commodities Directorate. Around 1995 it absorbed an Emergency Unit dealing with emergency planning in relation to national food supplies, and became known as Flood and Coastal Defence with Emergencies Division (FCDE).

Until MAFF's replacement by DEFRA in 2001 (see General), FCDE ran MAFF's flood and coastal defence programme. The National Assembly for Wales (exercising powers formerly held by the Welsh Office: see the Administrative History of the Welsh Office) worked with MAFF to monitor the progress made towards reaching policy objectives. These aimed to minimise flooding and coastal erosion in England and Wales, and to reduce the associated risks to people and the developed and natural environment. The Division was responsible for the following in England:

• Providing grants to operating authorities (the Environment Agency, internal drainage boards and local authorities) towards the capital costs of flood and coastal defence projects and warning systems. MAFF provided over 50% of the annual eligible expenditure on capital schemes.
• Overseeing the work of authorities responsible for flood and coastal defence.
• Publishing advice and guidance for operating authorities.
• Funding a research programme on flood and coastal defence issues.

Datasets have been transferred to NDAD which relate to the functions of FCDE and its predecessors in respect of coastal protection and internal drainage. See Records in NDAD.

Statistics (Census and Surveys) Division and predecessors

A return of average corn prices instituted in 1685 was the beginning of the collection of agricultural statistics. The Board of Trade established a system of agricultural surveys in 1866, which consisted of voluntary annual returns of acreage, cropping and livestock. The grants for this survey - later known as the Agricultural and Horticultural Census - passed to the Agricultural Department of the Privy Council in 1884 (publication of the results of the survey was undertaken by the Privy Council in the previous year). It was transferred to the Board of Agriculture on the Board's formation in 1889. The Board set up a Statistical Branch to carry out the work. Duties relating to the collection of agricultural statistics were absorbed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries upon its formation in 1919. The Ministry set up its own Statistical Branch which became the Economics and Statistics Division in 1942, before reverting to being a separate Statistics Branch in 1955.

In 1964/65 Statistics Division (as it was then known) appears to have briefly become Agricultural Censuses and Marketing Division, before its work was divided between two new divisions: Statistics Division I (dealing with forecasting performance and growth in the agricultural industry) and Statistics Division II (responsible for agricultural censuses and food prices). By 1974 these divisions, plus two Economics Divisions and a Food Economics Unit were located in MAFF's Economics and Statistics Department. Division II was responsible for the National Food Survey, "Agricultural Censuses and Surveys" (including the June Agricultural and Horticultural Census), UK food and agricultural prices, overseas trade statistics, national consumption levels of food and drink, and the supplying of statistics to external bodies. This arrangement continued until 1984 when Economics and Statistics Group was reorganised, with Statistics Division II becoming Statistics (Census and Prices) Division, Statistics I becoming Statistics (Agricultural Commodities) Division, and the Food Economics Unit becoming Economics and Statistics (Food) Division. The Group's economics divisions were also renamed. In 1993 the responsibilities of Statistics (Census and Prices) were defined as:

• Farm censuses and surveys: policy, planning and general operations; statistical responsibility for major surveys; statistical responsibility for minor surveys; computer services support; forms design and publication for all surveys.
• Eurofarm: provision, clearance and dissemination of UK material for the EC Farm Structure Surveys.
• Agricultural market prices and price indices (inputs and outputs); survey control in MAFF.

In 1995, Statistics (Census and Prices) was renamed Statistics (Census and Surveys) Division, without any apparent change in its functions.

Datasets for the Agricultural and Horticultural Census have been transferred to NDAD (see Records in NDAD). During the period covered by the datasets held by NDAD, the gathering and analysis of Census data was the responsibility of Statistics (Census and Prices) Division and its successor, Statistics (Census and Surveys), though certain IT-related functions were performed by MAFF's Information Technology Directorate (see 'Information Technology Directorate (ITD) and predecessors', below).

Information Technology Directorate (ITD) and predecessors

Electronic data processing using computers began in MAFF in 1958, when a Data Processing Unit was established in MAFF's Finance Department. The Unit became Data Processing Division in 1961. During the early 1960s the Division, based at Guildford, was involved in four main areas of work: calculation and payment of two large centrally administered subsidies (the Fatstock Guarantee Payment and the Fertilizer Subsidy); calculation and payment of a number of Agricultural Production Grants using data forwarded on punched paper tapes from MAFF's divisional offices; calculation and payment of the salaries of MAFF's employees; and the compilation and analysis of data from the June Agricultural and Horticultural Census. In 1963 the Division was amalgamated with the Finance Department's Payments Unit to form Appropriation Accounts and Data Processing Division. In addition to acting as a central accounting and computing unit for MAFF, after 1979 the Division also acted as a computer bureau for the Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce and (in respect of agriculture) for the Welsh Office.

By the end of the 1970s computing-related responsibilities were also being discharged by Management Services Division I in MAFF's Management Services and Information Department. One of the Division's functions was "review of Automatic Data Processing". By ca.1981 the Division had become Management Services Division, responsible for policy on computing and office automation. In 1982 a reorganisation of Management Services and Information Department saw two divisions created, with IT responsibilities:

• Computer Services Division: this was formed out of Appropriation Accounts and Data Processing Division, which was transferred from MAFF's Finance Department. Appropriation accounts business stayed with Finance Department, but otherwise the Division's responsibilities were identical to those of its predecessor.
• Information Technology and Procedures Division: this appears to have taken on the IT functions of Management Services Division, being responsible for IT policy and procurement, office technology and communications, organisation and methods studies, forms design and control, and staff suggestions.

The Department had other divisions dealing with management services, office services, and press and public relations. The structure continued in this form until 1988, when an Information Technology Directorate (ITD) was created within Management Services and Information Department. The establishment of ITD coincided with the launch of a five-year Information Technology Strategy for MAFF, with a focus on promoting greater decentralisation of computing within the Ministry, and the linking of MAFF units via data networks. At the time of its creation ITD had four divisions:

• Planning Division: this Division had similar functions to Information Technology and Procedures Division, being responsible for MAFF's information systems strategies and policies; business analysis, organisation and methods and IT feasibility studies; purchase of hardware, software and services for computer, communications and office systems; project support and co-ordination of IT standards; and forms design and control.
• Development Division: responsible for systems analysis and design; and software development, implementation and maintenance.
• Services Division: responsible for computer operations; systems programming and support for MAFF mainframes and central mini-computers; development and support of voice and data communications facilities; and central data preparation and output handling.
• Information Centre Division (later known as Infocentre Division): responsible for the planning, implementation and support of office systems and PCs; user support and training; and career development for ITD staff.

ITD was later transferred to MAFF's Chief Scientist's Group. In 1995 it was reorganised into three divisions:

• Applications Division: dealing with business analysis; software development, implementation and maintenance; technical, quality and project management of systems and management of standards and techniques; systems engineering tools and other development aids.
• Infrastructure Division: dealing with telecommunications services; computer bureau services; help desk services; hardware and software services for distributed PCs, local area networks, host computers and database systems.
• Strategies Division: dealing with the planning and co-ordination of MAFF's IS and IT strategies; IT account management and customer liaison; financial planning and management; contractual arrangements; IT procurement; development of cost management and charging policy; forms design; IT training advice and consultancy; human resources; and strategic office systems.

ITD provided support for some aspects of the Farm Survey System, in which data from the June Agricultural and Horticultural Census, and other censuses and surveys, was held and processed after 1993. The system management, configuration management and day-to-day operation of the system was performed by MAFF's Statistics (Census and Surveys) Division, which also gathered and analysed the data (see 'Statistics (Census and Surveys) Division and predecessors', above). ITD and its predecessors were more closely involved in the operation of the Agricultural Census and Survey System, in which Agricultural and Horticultural Census data was held from 1968-1993. Until 1996, ITD's Processor Controlled Keying Unit was used for the inputting of data from Census returns. As previously noted, Data Processing Division was concerned with processing data from the Census from the earliest days of the Division's existence. A number of datasets from the Census have been transferred to NDAD: see Records in NDAD.

Agricultural and Horticultural Census: reference CRDA/4

The Agricultural and Horticultural Census is a major data collection exercise involving farmers and growers in England and Wales, which has been undertaken since 1866. NDAD has received datasets aggregated to the levels of agricultural parishes, counties, regions and countries, for the period 1989-1999, together with related documentation: see the Series Catalogue for further information. During the period of the datasets held by NDAD, the Census was the responsibility of MAFF's Statistics (Census and Surveys) Division and its predecessor, Statistics (Census and Prices) Division. Some IT work in connection with the Census was undertaken by MAFF's Information Technology Directorate. See Subdivisions for further information on these divisions.

Internal Drainage Board Database: reference CRDA/9

The datasets derived from this database contain information gathered by MAFF's Flood and Coastal Defence with Emergencies Division and its predecessors, from annual returns submitted by internal drainage boards (IDBs) in England. Most of the data relates to the activities of IDBs in the financial year before the year in which the return was submitted. NDAD holds three datasets relating to the returns for 1994/95, 1995/96 and 1996/97: see the Series Catalogue for further information. For information on Flood and Coastal Defence with Emergencies Division and its predecessors, see Subdivisions.

Coast Protection Survey of England: reference CRDA/10

NDAD holds four datasets in this series, for the original survey (carried out in 1993-1994) and the 1995, 1996 and 1997 annual updates. The Coast Protection Survey of England was commissioned by MAFF's Flood and Coastal Defence Division in 1993, to gather information which would help MAFF discharge its functions under the Coast Protection Act 1949, in regard to coast protection defences. See the Series Catalogue for further details. For information on Flood and Coastal Defence Division and its predecessors and successors, see Subdivisions.

The National Archives holds records of the various bodies outlined in this history in classes with the reference "MAF".

Further information on the work of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs can be found on the DEFRA website. The DEFRA Helpline can be contacted by telephone on 0645 33 55 77; by electronic mail on helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk; or by post at: DEFRA Helpline, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 3-8 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HH.

1. The following sources were used in the preparation of this administrative history:

British Imperial Calendar and Civil Service List, volumes for 1960-1974 (London: HMSO, 1960-1974); Civil Service Year Book, volumes for 1974-2000 (London: HMSO/Stationery Office, 1974-2000); Public Record Office, Public Record Office Current Guide (Kew: Public Record Office, 1996), sections 501/1/1–501/1/3, 501/2/15, 501/2/23, 501/3/4; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Intervention Board, Departmental Report 1997: the Government's expenditure plans 1997-98 to 1999-2000 (Cm 3604) (TSO, March 1997); MAFF Information Technology Directorate, MAFF and Information Technology (London: MAFF Publications, 1990); MAFF, Increased Assistance for Management of Water Levels in Internationally Important Conservation Sites (MAFF Web site, UK News releases 1996, 7 February 1996), p. 1; Sir John Winnifrith, The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, New Whitehall Series no. 11 (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1962), pp. 23-25, 62, 136-43, 214-16, 241-242; Environment Agency, Policy and Practice for the Protection of Floodplains, (London: Environment Agency, January 1997), p. 21.

Web sites consulted: DEFRA web site, home page (http://www.defra.gov.uk/defra/default.htm) consulted on 27 June 2001; 10 Downing Street web site, page on "Delivering Effective Govenment" (http://www.pm.gov.uk/news.asp?NewsId=2093) consulted on 27 June 2001; former MAFF web site, page on "Flood and coastal defence" (http://www.maff.gov.uk/environ/fcd/default.htm) consulted on 27 June 2001.