Our small, rural farms are vanishing. Two-thirds of our farming families have gone in the last few decades. As they disappear, the basic structure of rural life is broken: farm-houses become expensive homes in empty valleys, our small village schools are forced to close, and services are increasingly centralised in our nearby towns. Without support, the character, culture, and history of our rural areas will be lost forever. This is why I am determined to support our farming communities, who are under such extraordinary pressure from a dozen directions; be it new environmental regulations, high fuel costs, or the vast, powerful forces of the supermarkets. Living, rural communities need to be seen as part of everyone’s British identity – farms are not only businesses, but bearers of culture; the legacy of more than a thousand years of cultivation.
Rory Stewart has applauded the work of the government in improving the efficiency and rate of payments to farmers through the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). “The RPA delivers over 2 billion pounds in direct Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments to farmers annually,” Rory Stewart said today. “Over the last few years delivery of these payments was […]
Rory has established and held an inaugural meeting of an ‘uplands advisory group’ to ensure the concerns of Cumbrian hill farmers are heard in Westminster. The group will serve as a sounding board and policy guide to the local MP, who has already established Young Farmers’ and Dairy advisory groups. The meeting, chaired by Mervyn […]
Penrith and the Border – the constituency in England with the largest percentage of uplands land – is pressing the governments to increase limits on sheep numbers on the fells. Rory believes that recent environmental measures – designed to protect hillsides from damage by sheep – have become “excessive” and is campaigning to relax […]
Rory has met with the National Trust’s Regional Director for the NW, John Darlington, at Temple Sowerby’s Acorn Bank to discuss the Trust’s policy on uplands hill-farming, its hopes to increase its community and youth focus, and other local initatives such as the creation of local rangers and improved access to local walking routes. Rory said: “As owners of […]
Rory has expressed his dismay that the European Commission has responded negatively to a request for tolerance on EID tagging. DEFRA has dent a formal request to the EU to ask for more tolerance, particularly in relation to hill farmers. Rory said: “It is simply out of the question to expect our farmers to be […]
Rory welcomed to Cumbria Secretary of State The Rt Hon Caroline Spelman MP and Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Jim Paice MP on Thursday March 10th in a day-long visit to Penrith and the Border. Rory took Caroline Spelman and Jim Paice first to uplands hill farm Gaythorn Hall near Orton, where tenant farm-manager Stephen Lord welcomed […]