Farmers need a sympathetic government as never before

HE was probably bounced into it. But Boris Johnson’s meeting this week with National Farmers’ Union President Minette Batters did at least give the farmers’ leader a chance to put across some of the most pressing issues facing UK farming as the nation leaves the European Union and strikes out on its own.

It is hard to think of a time when British agriculture faced a bigger change or a more challenging period. It is widely acknowledged that thousands of family farms, particularly those on smaller acreages and with less good land, rely on the subsidy support to survive. And that support, at least in the way it is currently paid, is due to end in two years at the most.

A new scheme, to pay farmers for delivering so called ‘public goods’ is to come into effect. It was reported in recent weeks that if that scheme – the environmental land management scheme, or Elms – is not ready in time, then an interim package of payments is being devised to avoid farmers going bankrupt.

Some reports suggest as many as 16,000 farms could go under if there is a protracted gap between the end of the subsidy support paid via the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy and the new system coming into effect.

Even if that is an exaggeration, it is almost certainly the case that the majority at risk will be here in the Westcountry, where there are many livestock farms on smaller holdings – one of the least profitable sectors.

There are critics of farming – from the devoted free marketeers who say that uncommercial farming operations don’t deserve to survive, to the radical conservationists who want to see farmed land return to the ‘wild’ – who would be quite happy to see a major shake-up for British agriculture result in ruin for some farmers.

But sudden change is almost always damaging. And in the rural Westcountry such a cliff-edge in the loss of subsidy would have a wide impact. While farming represents a small part of the UK economy – put at less than 1% – some 70% of the nation’s land is in agricultural use. Food and drink – much of it produced using British grown and reared raw materials, adds almost 10% to the British economy and there is hardly an aspect of rural life that is not touched by farming, from the view of the landscape to the viability – or otherwise – of many small market towns and villages.

Agricultural subsidy support in Europe came into effect to ensure the continent and its people never went hungry, particularly after the stresses of the Second World War. And despite the fact that critics of the farmed environment shout very loudly, most people’s idea of attractive countryside includes farms. That includes land under the plough or grazed by animals, the agricultural buildings – some of historical value – and the farmhouses.

We ask a lot of our farmers and we get a lot back, from well-managed countryside to vital food and drink. Agriculture is still, even without the numbers that once worked the land, the backbone of rural areas.

All credit to Boris Johnson for meeting Ms Batters. It is good to hear him praise farmers. Let’s hope he backs his warm words with real support.