WEST Somerset’s MP Ian Liddell-Grainger is urging local farmers to tell him which way they think the UK’s agriculture policies should be heading – before it is too late.
Mr Liddell-Grainger says, with draft legislation potentially only months away, he urgently needs to hear from them.
He has had a series of meetings with the NFU and the CLA, both of which have produced their own blueprint for the way British agriculture should be managed once it is no longer controlled from Brussels.
Further meetings are planned, he said: “But inevitably all we get from them is a broad brush picture. The NFU and the CLA have some good proposals – though of the two I would suggest the CLA has the better ones - but they are generalisations.
“What we need to take into account are the particular interests and circumstances of special areas such as Exmoor which don’t fit into the general template of farming.
“They make a significant contribution to agricultural output but the difference is that in these areas farming is not just the main economic activity, it’s pretty well the only one – and that makes a huge difference.”
The Government is expected to publish an Agriculture White Paper early in the New Year with the possibility of legislation early next autumn.
But Mr Liddell-Grainger said a massive amount of consultation would have to be carried out – and no farmer should think they were not entitled to express an opinion.
“We need to canvas solid opinions and views from the grass roots as well as the input from the national farming organisations,” he said.
“I shall be delighted to hear the views of as many Exmoor farmers as possible – and I can give every assurance they will be fed into the decision-making process.”