Yorkshire Post

THE YORKSHIRE AGENDA ON: COUNTRY LIFE

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RURAL COMMUNITIE­S simply have to be at the forefront of political thinking in the run up to and beyond June 8.

These are unpreceden­ted times for farming – the countrysid­e’s heartbeat – as the industry looks ahead to a future that isn’t ruled and regulated by the European Union’s ‘one-sizefits-all’ Common Agricultur­al Policy.

Many in farming relish the opportunit­y afforded by Brexit but what will it mean for the annual £1bn-plus package of direct support from Europe for British farmers?

So far politician­s of all persuasion­s have done little to reassure rural communitie­s that there is a coherent plan for farming outside of the EU. There has been no outlining of a vision for the industry from Ministers, with the publicatio­n of a 25-year food and farming plan repeatedly delayed.

Farmers and rural businesses need a government that champions their contributi­on to the landscape and the economy, that provides the policy framework that enables them to flourish through better connectivi­ty, sympatheti­c planning rules and access to labour and internatio­nal markets. Domestical­ly, farming leaders have called for a groceries code adjudicato­r with more powers to hold food processors and retailers to account and ensure farmers are getting a fair deal at the farm gate.

They also demand a simple system of administra­tion of farm payments that works and not one beset by crippling delays as overseen by the Government’s Rural Payments Agency in recent years.

Farming also needs a properly funded Department for the Environmen­t, Food and Rural Affairs with the manpower and expertise to meet the huge challenge of repatriati­ng agricultur­al and environmen­tal policy from the EU.

Countrysid­e communitie­s need assurances their livelihood­s and ways of life will be protected by the next government and that agricultur­e will not be an afterthoug­ht in the tough Brexit negotiatio­ns. A government that nurtures an industry that manages 71 per cent of land in Britain, that together with food manufactur­ing generates £108bn for the economy and in farming alone employs 475,000 people, is one rural communitie­s crave.

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