Farming facts

Regarding the letter (25 August) from the UK agriculture minister, George Eustice, if that represents the best that he and his Defra civil servants can do, your excellent reporting team of Henderson, Arbuckle and Maxwell can look on hooks less shoogly than his.

History suggests that walking away from farming was par for the course at the end of the 19th century and the First World War. Post-second World War, with its shortages and balance of payments problems, brought better sense, a support system flexible enough to look after the producers and consumers. The move to the Common Agricultural Policy sought this reconciliation in a different way, with the need to restructure agriculture with minimal disruption to farming and consumers. Its success is shown in the great reduction of farm employment without the rural distress of the US approach.

I should also declare an interest as an old agricultural economist. Tuesday’s mention of the lamb sales brought to mind an article the Department of Agriculture & Fisheries (Scotland) published in the early 1960s. It showed the influences of the supply of lambs, the price of fat sheep and the availability of autumn keep on lamb prices. It also set the 20 years of forecast values against the actual prices, a discipline that I do not see many modern modellers observe. Thanks again to your trio.

LV MCEWAN St Albans Road, Edinburgh