Expansion of British farming is a BNP priority
Sunday, August 10th, 2008 | Author: News Team
Land & People has pointed out, on a number of occasions over the last few years, how some in farming - the “big boys” as we call them - have been doing rather nicely out of the sequence of crises to hit the industry. This has manifested itself in larger estates “ be they privately or corporately owned “ buying out the struggling “little man” and selling off surplus farm houses and converted farm buildings, to urban outsiders as second homes.
A recent report from the Commission for Rural Communities supports this view as it shows that almost half of people buying farmland in the South West in recent years have not been farmers and that a significant area of land is now being bought by non-farming interests for housing and development as well as “agri-business”. The report goes on to claim that nationally, 38% of farmland purchasers were non-farmers, a figure that rises to 44% in the Westcountry.
The report also suggests that factors, which may have some longer-term impacts for land management - include low and fluctuating incomes for farmers and the average age of farmers, especially for small farms, is getting older.
None of this is news!
The State of the Countryside report also claims: “The trend is for a smaller number of larger farms, and for former agricultural buildings to be separated from farmland for residential use.
The primary function of farmers remains as food producers, although there is increasing interest in a wide range of crops for industrial uses and bio-fuels. At the margins, food production is declining as agricultural activities, such as hill sheep farming, become uneconomic due to changing policy and decreasing farm subsidies.”
However perhaps the most worrying message from this report is the assertion that Britain’s capacity for self-sufficiency in food continues to decline, down ten per cent for indigenous food and now just 60% for all food.
Such is the sorry state that British farming finds itself in after eleven years of Labour incompetence and Tory opposition intransigence! Once again we ask “ is the eradication of the “small man” from British farming accident or design?
Unlike the Labour and Tory parties the British National Party is dedicated to the expansion of the farming industry “ not through driving farming families from the land as is the Labour and Tory way “ but through encouraging the breaking up of the large corporate agricultural estates to free up land leading to the establishment of traditional family-run farms. The BNP will actively promote a “return to the land” programme. A programme that will reflect the strategic importance of the farming industry to the country and one which will assure the “small man” of a secure future in farming for himself and his family.
