Returning profitability to the farming industry can be achieved if everyone unites, says ROB SIMPSON, of the Yorkshire and North East National Farmers' Union

THE farming industry has been served with an extremely significant report by Don Curry, a former Meat and Livestock Commission chairman and a Northumberland farmer.

Curry's report addresses the problems and lists the opportunities farmers can tap into, with a little help from the Government. It does not advocate cash hand-outs to farmers, but instead calls on the Government to adopt a more understanding approach to agriculture and the countryside.

It contains many positive points, including enhancement of the little red tractor logo, a review of the supermarket code of practice and the Agricultural Wages Board, audits on the impact of red tape, better checks on imported food and measures for tenant farmers.

However, there are also missed opportunities. One glaring example is non-food crops where the Commission has failed to grasp the importance of this development for the future profitability of farming and where it has concentrated too much on energy crops while almost ignoring renewable raw materials.

There is a critical need now for the Government to deliver on the issues which will help farm businesses return to profitably.

A lot of the report's ideas are developments of existing work on issues like farm diversification, farmer collaboration, better training and marketing.

Too many recent reports are now gathering dust. We must now deliver - industry, stakeholders and Government - to produce a sustainable strategy for agriculture based on action.

The need to improve farmers' returns from the market place is vital, and by working together in collaborative ventures they will be in a stronger position to succeed.

The delivery of a new body to promote this work in England will only put us on a par with the other parts of the United Kingdom, and has the potential to do much good. As has the establishment of the Food Chain centres, which will identify issues for study, show best practice, and then pass these on to the rest of the chain.

But the key to all these and most of the other 100 recommendations from the Curry Report must be in the delivery of the proposals. Our industry cannot wait indefinitely - we must not allow drift.

Where we disagree fundamentally, however, with the report is on the subject of modulation, not because we are opposed to environmental programmes. Precisely the opposite - we believe they should be properly funded and in a way that is simple and low cost. Unfortunately, we are not there yet, and farmers' critically low incomes can ill afford such a programme. We are already suffering a ten to 15 per cent price cut because of the value of sterling. Further unilateral cuts would only make matters worse and be of little help to anyone.

Equally important the Government must learn the lesson, that imposing bureaucratic systems of control on our industry to implement environmental regulations are having an intolerable effect on an already punch-drunk industry. Farmers can't fight back if their hands are tied. This injustice is doubled if the foundation of the regulation cannot be justified. The implementation of European nitrate legislation is a case in point - with the whole country facing Draconian regulation - this can only heap further costs on the farming industry. Costs we can ill afford.

- INCREASINGLY many of the issues we have to deal with are cross commodity - from the nitrates directive to the vibrations directive; from the waste directive to the habitats directive; and from the use of water to climate change.

Add to this the looming problems that we face on the international scene with the enlargement of the EU; the WTO talks on trade reform; and the CAP mid-term review, then the pivotal role of an experienced single body to represent the whole of our industry has never been greater. We must also raise the public profile of the very severe problems of the arable sector, which are now putting the industry into a critical state. The "barley baron" label that came from one or two commentators a decade or more ago, still remains, and handicaps the real appreciation of the seriousness of the situation. We all need to put the truth across in a clear and unequivocal way - the challenges for 2002 loom large - but we cannot afford to shirk them.

Updated: 09:28 Tuesday, March 26, 2002