We need to link farmers, not just farms: Our letter to The Times

Farming

If we really want to get to work with nature then there has to be balance and one man has interfered as we have over many years it has to be managed and to do that the farm itself has to be sustainable. Over the last fifty years or so we have planted thousands of trees, participated in all the bird counts, won Silver in the Purdey award Scheme for the shoot in Cheshire and made two attempts at reintroduction of the Grey Partridge. On the farm in Cumbria we cut late for ground nesting birds and hares and we have three ten acre woods with fantastic wildflowers some only existing in ancient woodlands and plan to replant a lot of untended hedgerows. However with rising feed costs and declining returns of as much as 66% on pigs ( due to slaughterhouse staff shortages? we don't see that reflecting in pork prices? ) Things will soon get out of balance because it simply isn't sustainable. Recently on the river pollution topic the opening comment was " farmers " however the pollution was raw sewage?? Is that a farming issue or a Utilities issue? If we really want to improve the cost cannot just sit at the farming end of life it has to be shared by the consumer with higher costs of produce that are directly linked to an investment at source.