British farmers are the best in the world because of our tradition of family farming. Family farming has tethered agricultural practices in the UK to the skills which have long guaranteed British quality food, produced to high standards and with care for our natural world.
But now the farmers feeding our country are sometimes barely able to afford to feed their own families. For far too many, the sums simply don’t add up.
In the last year alone, 8,100 UK farms closed their doors – equal to one in 25 of all farms in the country. Without these family farms, the wider rural community cannot prosper; our food security, our countryside, our natural environment and our cultural heritage are all supported by family farming.
Often ignored in Whitehall, where rural communities are misunderstood, family farms are also a massive part of our clean energy future and give us a fighting chance against climate change.
I know how worried farmers are about their incomes and I am desperately worried about the tragic rise in suicides in farming communities. There is a wider issue of mental health crisis in farming, and many farmers rightly feel the latest tax on family farms comes at the worst possible time.
この記事は The Independent の December 15, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は The Independent の December 15, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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