Parties set out policies to win the rural vote

With farming so crucial to key political issues such as climate change and food security the major parties were all keen to mention agriculture in their manifestos.

Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives threw their weight behind the creation of a supermarket ombudsman to police the grocery market and protect suppliers from unfair practices at the hands of large scale retailers. All parties also said they wanted to reform the Common Agricultural Policy to draw up more favourable terms for British farmers.

On Monday the Labour party said it wanted British farming to be both profitable and competitive in the modern world. In addition to reforming CAP it promised to maintain the target that 60 per cent of new development should be on brownfield land and said it was committed to "universal broadband access, irrespective of location".

One area which it failed to touch on however was that of disease control, a symptom of the party's ongoing opposition to badger culls to stem the spread of Bovine TB.

The issue has created a clear dividing line between the Government and the Tories, with the latter committed to a cull of badgers in cattle TB hotspots, calling the disease the "most pressing animal health problem in the UK today".

The Tory manifesto said: "As part of a package of measures, we will introduce a carefully-managed and science-led policy of badger control in areas with high and persistent levels of bTB."

The Conservatives also pledged to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board and said it wanted to reform the CAP to allow for a "dismantling of market-distorting subsidies at a pace that allows time for British farmers and producers in developing countries to adapt".

Another key difference came in the area of hunting with the Tories reiterating their promise to hold a free vote on the Hunting Act if elected, an issue not mentioned in either the Lib Dem or Labour manifestos.

However, Defra secretary Hilary Benn raised the issue this week when campaigning in Wales, where he said that the majority of the country supports the ban.

In keeping with the party theme of fairness, the Lib Dem manifesto pledged a serious reform of the Single Farm Payment system to make it more advantageous to farmers and less to landowners.

The manifesto said it would set a minimum level for Single Farm Payments so that big landowners would receive less and that the money would go to "working farmers who need it".

Plans to promote anaerobic digestion, find extra money for hill farmers and develop farm apprenticeship schemes were also mentioned – as was a drive to encourage farmers to develop unused agricultural buildings on their farms into affordable housing.