Farmers now face uphill climb for support

Concerns are still being voiced about what the Government’s post-Brexit farming framework will hold in store for hill farmers. It had better be a good deal, Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger tells Defra Secretary George Eustice

DEAR George, I remember once driving with a friend across Exmoor, an area he had not visited before but which, as you know, falls largely within my territory.

He was understandably impressed by the scenery. “Lovely,” he said, before adding “but I wouldn’t want to live up here in winter.”

A sentiment, I should imagine, shared by a lot of visitors to the area as they observe the gale-sculpted trees growing at an angle of 45 degrees and maybe discover what real rain feels like.

And yet, people do live there because it’s where their livelihoods oblige them to live and if I am boring you by raising the issue of hill farmers yet again I make not the least apology. Because I am doing so in the light of yet another chilling warning from an industry leader that unless the upland producers are supported in future with an amount at least equivalent to what they were receiving by way of the SFP they will not survive.

And that, I can assure you George, is by no means an exaggeration.

The problem as I see it is that noone in Defra accepts the fact that hill farmers have historically been treated as a special case and if we want them to remain where they are then similar treatment will be necessary on an ongoing basis.

Farming on the hills has always been a damned precarious business. Exmoor is by no means untypical. The soils are thin and poor, the climate harsh and unforgiving and in those circumstances there is an absolute limit to what the land will yield you, however hard you work – or work it.

Don’t bother to raise the matter of diversification because most of them have done that. They’re done the B&B; they’ve done the contracting; they’ve waved their spouses off for the day job every morning. Yet still they can only balance the books thanks to pretty generous support, whether it’s referred to as SFP, HLCA or any other set of initials.

And I have not the least shred of doubt, George, that if you took a poll among tourists enjoying the summer views on Exmoor, Dartmoor, the Dales, the Quantocks or any other upland mass and asked them whether they would be prepared to allow some of their income tax to be used to support farmers who provided them with such splendidly maintained surroundings, the response would be an overwhelming ‘yes’.

Then there’s the matter of food production. Livestock rearing, I know, is currently in the sights of environmental campaigners, vegans (incidentally I was tickled to see the latest scientific study suggesting vegans would actually do well to eat proper yogurt and drink proper milk occasionally) and assorted other malcontents but the fact is we are years away from adopting a plantbased diet for all (and I doubt we ever shall) and in the meanwhile supermarkets and independent traders depend on a steady flow of cattle and sheep coming off the uplands for finishing.

Please don’t dangle the red herring of ‘rewilding’ in front of me either because even that will require land management and since local authorities and national parks haven’t got the resources to do it, the job will have to be delegated to those who do it most cheaply and efficiently – the farmers.

You need to come clean as quickly as possible George, and spell out the deal you are offering hill farmers. Because if you don’t and if that deal isn’t generous enough, you are going to get rewilding by default, the sort we saw in the 1930s when the upland farming economy collapsed and people just walked away.

And the tourists certainly won’t be flocking on the hills to admire the dereliction, ruin and decay which will be the inevitable outcome.

Yours ever,

Ian

> Farming on the hills has always been a precarious business