RURAL business leaders told Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom that the Government’s industrial strategy and its 25-year plan for food and farming must include them.

Mrs Leadsom attended the Country Land and Business Association's inaugural rural business conference in Westminster on Tuesday.

It called on politicians to provide more help for the countryside to reach its economic potential. Nationally, investment has increased by 38 per cent since 2012 with rural businesses investing £13 billion a year – in the North of England they pump £1bn a year into the economy.

The figures are from a year long study by the CLA which included a member survey and a series of expert discussions and seminars.

But the CLA warned the conference that if ministers failed to include the countryside in future political thinking then the uncertainties of Brexit, allied to volatile agricultural prices, could severely harm the prospects of investments in the rural economy.

The report found 35 per cent of rural land-owning businesses expect changes in government policies to be a barrier to future investments. However, greater confidence could significantly improve investment to more than £16bn by 2020.

Jane Harrison, CLA North regional adviser, said: "A policy framework which incorporates the rural economy’s needs and aspirations will certainly boost the confidence of landowners and rural businesses to bullishly make investment decisions, with benefits spiralling out across the region.

"The barriers that are holding back many rural businesses need to be removed for it to prosper within, and contribute to, the regional economy. Issues related to poor broadband connectivity, a bureaucratic planning system, and taxation regime should all be addressed."

The report said almost half of family farms in the CLA’s northern region had been family-owned for between 51 and 100 years, and a quarter for over a century.

It outlined their diversity, with land-owning rural businesses undertaking an average of four different activities. Traditional farming activities still dominate with livestock farming (61 per cent) and food crops (38 per cent), followed closely by acting as landlords for residential properties (32 per cent).

Other activities include forestry (27 per cent), renewable energy (27 per cent), farm tenancies and land rental (both 25 per cent), leisure and sport (17 per cent), and tourism (13 per cent). The north most frequently cited leisure, sport and tourism as part of their diverse mix of activities.

The most common reason in the North for not investing was lack of access to funding. Reluctance to invest was also rooted in planning issues (50 per cent), prohibitive upfront costs and regulations (29 per cent), while nationally a third did not feel they would see a return on their investment.

In terms of future investment, Northern respondents were most likely to invest in infrastructure and properties/buildings used by its own business.

Nationally, 59 per cent of land-owning rural businesses want to invest in housing, but 49 per cent said problems with the planning system were a barrier.

Robert Frewen, CLA North regional surveyor, said: "If it is the government’s vision to increase housing in rural areas, then this needs to be translated into action locally, especially within councils’ local plans which often don’t reflect issues vital to the rural economy."