NFU welcomes Defra focus on upland farm challenges

THE National Farmers’ Union welcomed a Government pledge to support upland farmers in Dartmoor and Cumbria with the challenges they face in producing food and maintaining thriving businesses.

- WMN REPORTER

> A Dartmoor farmer herding a flock of sheep

(Chris Saville)

Emma Reynolds, Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), pledged support to farmers in the uplands during her speech at the Oxford Farming Conference this month. The announcement has been welcomed by the NFU, which launched its own upland vision report last summer demonstrating how government, farmers and partners can work together to achieve a ‘confident, sustainable future for the businesses at their heart’

‘The announcement at Oxford laid out the importance of protecting the uplands for a prosperous farming future, identifying that these parts of the countryside are ‘among the country’s most valued landscapes, shaped by generations of farming and community life’

Speaking at the conference, Ms Reynolds said: “From Dartmoor to the Lake District, [the uplands] supply around 70% of the UK’s drinking water. Upland farming plays a vital role in maintaining these landscapes and habitats.