‘Dales in danger’ as farmers struggle

8:08am Tuesday 13th November 2007

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BEEF and sheep farmers must receive a fair price for their produce if the British meat industry and landscapes such as the Yorkshire Dales are to survive, according to a campaign launched today.

It warns that without higher farm gate prices, the British Sunday roast could be replaced by imported meat, and uplands - including the Dales, the Lakeland Fells and Dartmoor - could be under-grazed and fall into dereliction.

Nationally, numbers of sheep and beef farmers have dropped by 12,500 in the past decade.

A census in June this year showed that the number of cattle in England had fallen to 5.6 million - down 2.5 per cent on June last year - and sheep and lamb numbers dropped by three per cent to 15.2 million.

The gradual removal of production subsidies under the EU Common Agricultural Policy reform in 2005, followed by current high feed prices and the foot-andmouth and blue tongue crises have all had an impact.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) campaign has the full support of consumer groups such as the Townswomen's Guild, the National Council of Women, the Women's Food and Farming Union, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the English Beef and Lamb Executive.

A survey by YouGov for the NFU revealed that 72 per cent of shoppers questioned wanted to be able to buy British beef and lamb, and 80 per cent believed supermarkets should offer farmers a fair deal.

Peter Kendall, NFU president, said: "It doesn't surprise me at all that the vast majority of consumers want to buy British beef and lamb.

"But the plain fact is that unless farmers' prices start to rise, to fill the yawning gap between what it costs to produce beef cattle and sheep and what farmers are paid for them, British beef and lamb will become niche products.

"That will be bad for consumers, bad for farming, bad for employment in the meat industry and bad for the countryside.

"That is why we are calling on people who care about where their beef and lamb comes from, and the countryside where it is produced, to put pressure on the supermarkets to start the process of lifting farmers' prices to a sustainable level."

Thomas Binns, NFU livestock board chairman who farms in the North-West, said market prices had failed to rise to fill the gap in incomes left by the removal of production subsidies.

He said: "Since 2004, the beef herd in England has fallen by 11 per cent and the sheep breeding flock by over ten per cent. Even more worrying for the future is the decline in the number of younger beef cattle in the pipeline - down by 15 per cent in only four years."

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver backs the campaign and said: "Now is time for a call to action to help our British farmers. It's been a tough year for them and for many it's just getting worse."

The campaign urges consumers to buy British beef and lamb and ask supermarkets what they are doing to ensure a sustainable future for the industry.