Britain needed more home produced food so as to be less dependant on imports and, with most of the men of working age in the armed forces, the Women's Land Army was to provide the labour to expand the amount of land under cultivation. The Land Army was one of the options women could take when called up for work.
At the end of 1943, thirty nine thousand women were working on the land and at its height the Women's Land Army was one hundred thousand strong. With their help an extra six million acres were turned over to agriculture. Many of the girls were from towns and cities and their dreams of a healthy outdoor life evaporated when they found themselves on farms which had no flush toilets, running water, electricity or gas.
The hardships and physical nature of the job, hedging, ditching, laying land drains, muck spreading etc came as a shock, but all the same they won many a farmers admiration for their efforts.
