In February 1952, The Daily Gleaner announced that ‘a film which has made a bit of history in Jamaica, will be shown in the lecture Hall of the institute of Jamaica tomorrow morning. “Farmer Brown Learns Good Dairying” – a documentary made in Jamaica by Jamaicans’ (Daily Gleaner, 15 February 1952, 5).

Farmer Brown Learns Good Dairying was the first film produced by the Jamaica Film Unit. Production on the film began in 1950 as part of the work of the Colonial Film Unit Training School in the West Indies. R.W. Harris and G. Evans – two members of the Colonial Film Unit – had arrived in Jamaica in February 1950 to set up and run the film school at the University College in Jamaica. Three of the six trainees were from Jamaica (Weller, Welsh and Rennalls) although it is probable that the other members of the training programme contributed to the film. A photo within an article by the Colonial Film Unit depicts ‘students at work on a production’. The photo shows a farmer milking a cow, while the board – dated 27 July 1950 – reveals that the film is directed by Rennalls, with Wilfred Lee, later to head the Trinidad Unit, working as cameraman. The article mentions that Rennalls, Welsh and Weller ‘have one more shot to take to complete a film on improved livestock methods’ (Colonial Cinema, June 1951, 42-43).

However, the production was still not completed by September 1951, when William Sellers, the head of the Colonial Film Unit, visited Jamaica. He stated that Farmer Brown Learns Good Dairying was still ‘awaiting the recording of the soundtrack’ (Colonial Cinema, December 1951, 91). The commentary was in all probability recorded by one of the three filmmakers. A report on the training course explained that ‘voice tests were made among the students, and to the student with the voice that was considered best suited for reproduction was delegated the task of speaking the commentary’ (Colonial Cinema, June 1951, 41).

Martin Rennalls wrote of the development of the Jamaica Film Unit in Colonial Cinema in March 1953. ‘The Unit has had one film released to the public up to date’ he wrote, ‘Farmer Brown Learns Good Dairying – a film made specially for adult audiences to help solve the problem of effecting better care and management of the dairy cow so as to improve the milk-production in Jamaica’ (Colonial Cinema, March 1953, 18). Newspaper reports indicated that a film on ‘dairy farming’ played to a local branch of the Jamaica Agricultural Society at Clonmel School in May 1952 (Daily Gleaner, 19 May 1952, 9) and Rennalls commented that Farmer Brown Learns Good Dairying ‘has been having a very successful showing throughout Jamaica and other British West Indian islands and its acceptance as a local production has been extremely important’.

The film was presented as a part of a broader campaign. The Department of Agriculture’s Annual Report for 1952 mentioned screenings of the film ‘from time to time’ as part of the Livestock Division’s ‘advisory work on all aspects of animal husbandry, feeding and management’. The report also referred to exhibits at the Frome Show and a colour documentary film produced by Dr G. Bras of the University about the ‘Jamaica-Hope’ breed (Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture, 1952). Furthermore, Rennalls explained that ‘in conjunction’ with the release of Farmer Brown Learns Good Dairying were ‘a filmstrip and brochure on the same subject forming a sort of Visual Unit’. He added that ‘to help meet the demand in bookings for this film four extra copies are to be purchased’ (Colonial Cinema, March 1953, 18).

Films about the dairy industry had been shown in Jamaica before – for example at the Annual General Meeting of the Jamaica Livestock Association in 1949 – and Colonial Cinema suggested in 1950 that Jamaica was well-equipped for their exhibition with four cinema vans and 12 sound projectors. Yet, the magazine recognised a need for local productions ‘which must be far more interesting and useful to audiences’, and the Jamaica Film Unit would produce a series of local instructional films, many of which addressed agricultural problems (Colonial Cinema, March 1950, 19). For example, One Way Out was designed to get farmers to ‘spray their bananas thoroughly and regularly’ and according to Rennalls ‘is expected to be received with even a greater reception than Farmer Brown’ (Colonial Cinema, March 1953, 18). In January 1953, Rennalls presented Let’s Stop Them, a film about ‘praedial larceny’ [the theft of livestock] to the Jamaican Agricultural Society. Sir Hugh Foot, the governor, attended the screening and argued that the film marked ‘the beginning of a big development in the technique of presentation… in phases of agriculture where there is still the need to get across ideas to the farmer’ (Daily Gleaner, 16 January 1953, 11).

The government agricultural reports suggested that by 1953, dairy farming was on the decline. A report stated that ‘the movement out of dairying apparently gained impetus during the year. Supplies of milk to the condensery for the first time since its opening, did not surpass those of the previous year’. Bigger farmers tended to ‘abandon milk production for such crops as rice and bananas and cattle raising’. The report concluded that as the consumption of condensed milk continued to rise, ‘it appeared likely that importation would be necessary during 1954’ (Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture, 1953, 11).