Are British farmers an endangered species?
The conclusion at our Women Working Together conference was – YES – they are.
The hall at Clyst St Mary was packed. Many farmers despaired of politicians of all parties, who seem content to let farming in particular and the countryside in general, wither and die through ignorance, neglect, the greed of overpowerful supermarkets and stifling bureaucracy.
We have just had the political party conference and – apart from at fringe meetings – the countryside was hardly mentioned.
Our youngest son, who is a tenant of a dairy farm near Bristol, has finally come to the end of his tether and is considering giving notice to quit to buy a farm on one of the Orkney Isles.
The downside may be that the farm has a beach as one of its boundaries and in a few years low lying farms could well be under sea water, if the predications of climate change worst case scenario come to pass. Only time will tell.