The Origins of Cloud Factories
Agricultural Ecology Module101, Cloud Factories In Agriculture - Background Information.
Author: Dr John Dunnett, PhD, NFFC, Department Head, Mining Technology.
The Cloud Factories of the UK are an important reason why UK agriculture is so successful. Tell an American that the tiny corner of the world we call East Anglia produces more grain than the great prairies of the US, and he will not believe you - show him those areas on a map, and he'll call you a liar!
Whatever, Americans do not get out much - 98% of the US population do not leave the states in their lifetime, and most of those that do are generally on business of some kind. So they never learned the cunning agricultural methods that the old world has been developing since time immoral, they had to start from the ideas that their ancestors took over the water about 500 years ago.
Meanwhile, the British were developing Cloud Factories to help their agriculture. While US agriculturalists were trying to learn the mysteries of the rain dance from the Arapaho, modern engineering by Jethro Tull had produced significant developments in England -
A late 18th century cloud factory, preserved in the upper Colne Valley near Huddersfield.
Now if you go back in history, the real granary of England was in Yorkshire. The Vale of York and the coastal plain were producing grain for the Romans 2,000 years ago, while the southern fens were still a swamp. Mind you, they got quite a bit of grain out of Essex as well - before the collapse of the Roman Empire, there were times when the Emperors were ruling from Colchester - nobody ever mentions that, it is a bit embarrassing that Colchester was preferred to Rome.
In the same vein, nobody Scottish ever mentions that Colchester is the birthplace of Robert the Bruce! Never mind, let us return to the corny subject, growing wheat and barley ...
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Where The Natural Rain Comes From
From the point of view of the physical geographer, the rain clouds destined for a day out in Hornsea come up the gulf stream and mostly rain on Manchester. The clouds continue moving to the east, dump a bit more on the Pennines, dribble on the York area, and eventually pass over the coastal plain having lost a lot of their rain cargo on the way there.The clouds don't much mind that they have little to give when they get to Hornsea, there are very few trippers to rain on these days and the town has been mostly closed for business since Beeching's Axe fell on the local railway station. In line with Mr Blair's ideas of getting the nation fit, people are now invited to walk or cycle along the former railway line as far as the west coast. Barmy, I call it, it was much easier to go to the west coast when there were trains, although usually you had to change at Hull Paragon. Some people still want to walk ... no accounting for tastes. I'd get a bus to Hull from Hornsea ... if you book in advance, you can go to Torquay for £9 on a bus, and they have palm trees.
There is no US Embassy in Hornsea - the place is not popular enough to sustain sufficient passing trade, and the local fish and chip shops are too good for McD to compete with. Sullivans is recommended.
Continued/ part 2