Farmers fight for fair price (From Western Telegraph)

Farmers fight for fair price

A profitable agriculture industry is vital to a thriving Pembrokeshire economy, insist the countys farming leaders.

Agriculture underpins tourism and other industries and, if its decline continues, the whole rural economy will suffer, the deputy president of the National Farmers Union, Tim Bennett, was told at the County Show last Tuesday.

Meurig Raymond, Pembrokeshire farmer and NFU council delegate, said the depletion of the sector serving agriculture was evident at the show.

You only have to look around the showground to see how the service sector has shrunk over the last ten years. If there is no investment in the industry then there is no employment for the builders, the contractors, the machinery suppliers, everyone who has a part to play in what I regard as Pembrokeshires most important industry, he said. We need a profitable agriculture industry for the sake of the Pembrokeshire economy.

He criticised the Government for not procuring locally-produced food in a country which has a higher standard of food production than any other in the world. It is time the Government led the way. This county is suffering, he added.

The Pembrokeshire County NFU chairman, Brian Ratcliffe, shared his thoughts.

He said farmers didnt want to rely on subsidies but wanted a fair price for their produce.

Pembrokeshire farmers, in common with the rest of their British counterparts, had the biggest gap between farm-gate and retail prices than any other European country.

This has got be addressed, we dont want to be in a situation where we have got to keep putting our hand out. We want to stand on our own two feet.