Smith, C. S. (agricultural journalist)

Clifford Sydney Smith had a career in agricultural journalism that extended over sixty years. He started on the Wiltshire Advertiser in 1926 and then moved to the Bristol Times and Mirror, the Evening Times and Echo and the Wiltshire Advertiser before joining the North Wilts Herald in 1933. He wrote the agricultural page using the pen-name “Peter Gurney” (a name taken from the song Widicombe Fair like his predecessor at the paper “Uncle Tom”). In 1939 Smith moved to Fleet Street and spent twenty years working on Farmers Weekly. He later became Public Relations Officer for the Country Landowner’s Association (1961-1971) and the National Association of Agricultural Contractors (1976-1991).

An expert in farming lore Smith was also enthusiastic about more modern farming methods especially the use of aeroplanes. He dealt with public relations for A D S (Aerial) Ltd, the largest firm of agricultural aviation contractors in Britain, and was a vociferous defender of the spraying of chemicals from the air. Smith was also an acknowledged expert on Dutch hydrological engineering. He died in 1993.

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