There has been a major change in emphasis on EU policy. There is to be an increased emphasis on environmental improvement, but also on the social aspects of farming as a way of life. Subsidies will be available to farmers using the 'traditional' methods of farming.

This is the last straw. Large efficient farms produce large quantities of food which, until now is what the EU has encouraged us to do. It is only because we are so efficient that they can now say 'we are producing so much food, we can afford to support small inefficient farmers because they are farming in the traditional way. It just isn't right.'

At last the EU has recognised that farming is as much a way of life as a business. Unless you want to wipe out whole communities, it must be supported. The land here is too steep and the weather is too wet to support the sort of farming that uses the latest technology to farm with. If we do not receive subsidies from the EU, we will go out of business

While we recognise the need to help these farmers, no such action was taken to prevent the decline of coal mining and the way of life that went with that. It is rather galling that the few miners who have fought hard to retrain and have been successful in finding alternative employment now have to support these farmers through their taxes. Mining was forced to become competitive - so should farming.