Tory MP calls on Government to provide more help for farmers

A cross-party committee of MPs today publishes its report into the future of farming in Britain’s uplands and recommends the restoration of so-called “headage payments” to help remote farmers in the likes of the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors to remain commercially viable.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee also recommends that the Government do more to allow hill farmers to diversify into growth industries such as carbon capture and water quality schemes.

The committee’s chairwoman and MP for Thirsk and Malton Anne McIntosh, said: “The Government must find a better way to pay farmers for maintaining our unique upland landscapes.

“Headage payments, together with appropriate environmental safeguards, could provide the answer for these remote farming areas. Tenant farmers are having a particularly hard time; headage payments would remove some of the obstacles they face accessing EU funds they are entitled to.”

Grazing livestock are an essential contributor to the landscapes in areas such as the Yorkshire Dales. However farmers in these regions continue to struggle with low prices and high overheads, with fears mounting regarding both the future of hill farming and for the future of the appearance of the countryside.

“Government must ensure farm businesses can provide a decent income for hard-pressed hill farmers”, said Ms McIntosh.

“Farmers in the uplands already do a huge amount of unpaid work that benefits the public. The challenge for Ministers is to find a way to reward farmers for those public benefits while preserving their way of life and wonderful landscapes of our uplands.”

The announcement comes after the head of the National Farmers Union launched an attack on the Coalition Government, accusing it of failing to put food production amongst its list of priorities.

Speaking at the NFU conference in Birmingham, Peter Kendall told Defra Secretary Caroline Spelman that more needed to be done to end the country’s reliance on imported food, warning that one in every two meals would soon consist entirely of foreign food.

Mr Kendall made repeated references to the recent Government Foresight report which said the world would need to produce 40 per cent more food in 20 years time and urged Ms Spelman to make “UK farmers part of the answer”.

He said: “Where is the food plan, where is the food white paper that reflects the Foresight challenges?”