Harvest Hymn
By Sir John Betjeman
We spray the fields and scatter
The poison on the ground
So that no wicked wild flowers
Upon our farm be found.
We like whatever helps us
To line our puree with pence;
The twenty-four-hour broiler-house
And neat electric fence.
All concrete sheds around us
And Jaguars in the yard,
The telly lounge and deep-freeze
Are ours from working hard.
We fire the fields for harvest,
The hedges swell the flame,
The oak trees and the cottages
From which our fathers came.
We give no compensation,
The earth is ours today,
And if we lose on arable,
The bungalows will pay.
All concrete sheds…etc
Original Song
We plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand:
He sends the snow in winter,
The warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine,
And soft, refreshing rain.
Refrain:
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above;
Then thank the Lord,
O thank the Lord,
For all his love.
He only is the maker
Of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower,
He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey him,
By him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, his children,
He gives our daily bread.
We thank thee then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer
For all thy love imparts,
And what thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
 Summary by Mukul Panda, Class – 7, Kolkata

Harvest Hymn is a parody of an often sung harvest song above. The Poet, Sir John
Betjeman, has cleverly unraveled the monstrous face of modern farming practices.

Betjeman says that the farmers do what ever is necessary to grow more and more
crops like indiscriminate use of chemicals & fertilizers, uncontrolled use of electricity
& wastage of non-renewable sources of energy.

He also mocks the modern farmers’ rich life style laced with luxury. The well-to-do
farmers boast of hard work which buys them expensive cars, huge buildings &
comfortable gadgets. The advanced farmer, in his eagerness to increase profit,
converts forests to arable land, arable land to concrete jungles, destroys trees,
denudes pastures and so on. Their cruelty to live stock knows no bounds.

The agricultural products and ecosystem services are both very essential part of
human existence and largely affect quality of life. The intensified modern agricultural
practices have greatly increased global food supply but have detrimental impacts on
the environment highlighting the need for more sustainable agricultural methods. We
shall need hundreds of years of sustained effort to give back what we have destroyed
in years.