Although the independence of the Minister’s selection of members was emphasised to deflect criticism of undue local favouritism (or the reverse), it is nevertheless true that there was a fairly limited supply of people with the time, experience and ability suitable for membership of the new committees. The tormented Laurie Lee, sitting in on CWAEC meetings and writing Land at War for the Ministry of Information ‘in a poverty-stricken vocabulary of about 100 words’, portrayed the members and their meetings as ‘no talk shop but a hardbitten band of fighters who had a very real and critical battle on hand’. But this was in fact a coalition of interests. In some counties the membership included the ‘agricultural optimists’ taken from the ranks of academics as well as intellectuals, working farmers, landed aristocracy, Fabians, politicians, industrialists, trade unionists, as well as those with a history of public service.

The membership of the CWAECs

Given the new-found powers of the CWAECs, it clearly mattered greatly to the farming community who wielded that power. The complexions of the CWAECs varied from county to county: what follows is an analysis of the membership of the executive committees in England and Wales. Their composition can be uncovered in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries files at the National Archives, where information is available on the names, addresses, dates of executive and subcommittees’ memberships, and occupations. The fullest information is available for June 1945, when all CWAECs were required to send information to the Ministry on the composition (referred to as the ‘constitution’) of the executive committees. There are also copies of the letters of appointment for individuals, signed personally from 1 September 1939 onwards by Donald Fergusson, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, together with any later revocation of an appointment, similarly signed by Fergusson. In Wales, Cadwaladr Bryner Jones signed the letters of revocation.

Rushed as they undoubtedly were, the committees were required to preserve their deliberations and conclusions and these now form an extensive collection of lists and minute books.