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Time to end the neglect of agriculture
After the foot and mouth debacle that caused so much pain here in Craven seven years ago, the Government scrapped the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and replaced it with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The dropping of the word "Agriculture" was taken by many, including me, as a sign that New Labour was not very interested in farming.
Tony Blair is alleged to have said: "What's the point of pumping billions into agriculture when we can buy food much more cheaply from abroad?"
Whether the decision was supported by the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, I don't know - although for 10 years he switched billions of Government grants from the countryside to the inner cities - but, last weekend, those poor starved rural chickens came home to roost.
Faced by a growing panic over world food shortages, Mr Brown held a "food summit" where much hand-wringing was done over how Britain could help prevent world starvation.
I doubt very much that more hot air from Downing Street will do much good on an international scale - except possibly to add more to global warming - but there is something practical Brown could do here at home: reverse 10 years of neglect of - and even contempt for - our farmers. Since 1997, New Labour policy has been to systematically reduce the rewards paid to farmers to actually provide food. Backed by lobbyists like the Ramblers' Association, the countryside has been perceived more as a leisure park for urban visitors rather than a working environment for country folk.
Defra created the Rural Payments Agency which, for three years, didn't pay farmers because of bureaucratic shambles. For many of those years, major supermarkets colluded on prices for milk, butter and cheese, driving thousands of dairy farmers to the wall.
Who realises that much of our milk now comes from France or Italy? That price-fix has now been exposed, but food prices here in Britain are soaring. Some independent analysts say they have gone up by £18 to £20 a week for the average family - although "official" Government figures say inflation is still below three per cent!
One of the best ways of helping fight world food shortages, I would suggest, is to encourage British farmers and market gardeners to produce more food for our local markets. That way, the millions of tonnes we import from abroad could go to alleviate starvation in the Third World.
3:32pm Thursday 1st May 2008
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