Rural advocate and Countryside Agency chairman, Ewen Cameron, comments on the impact that the foot and mouth outbreak is having on Cumbrian hill farmers and the potential knock-on effects for the Cumbrian landscape.
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Cumbrian Farmers Face Stark Choice - 22 March 2001

As a government scientific adviser warns that the outbreak of foot and mouth may not peak until the beginning of May, the hills and fells of Cumbria could be left with no livestock. The farmers involved will now be facing a stark choice between restarting a business which appears to be inherently unprofitable or leaving altogether.

Speaking from Cumbria today, Ewen Cameron, rural advocate and chair of the Countryside Agency, said: "Upland farming in Cumbria has been struggling to survive for some time and the destruction of large numbers of flocks as foot and mouth spreads may be the last straw for many farms. If more farmers leave the business there is a real danger that farms will be amalgamated into bigger and bigger holdings or the land abandoned altogether. Both scenarios could have dire consequences for the landscape of Cumbria."

The Countryside Agency is calling on the Government to change tack in providing support for upland farms.

Ewen Cameron said: "Tourists come to Cumbria in droves because of its outstanding scenery bringing with them £10 million a week in income. That scenery has been created by farmers over generations. At the same time the public appears to be willing to pay somewhat less for their livestock, currently viewed as the main rationale for upland farming. We need to think about paying farmers for what we value most, their role in creating an environment that the public wants to visit time and time again."

MAFF already run the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, successfully piloted by the Countryside Commission, which pays farmers for the environmental benefits they provide. The Countryside Agency is also experimenting with the next generation of stewardship schemes - land management initiatives - which look wider to other services that land managers can provide, such as flood relief.

Ewen Cameron said: "Government needs to use the existing schemes to the full to allow farmers new options for land management. At the same time we need to explore with Europe new ways of targeting money on a more sustainable approach to farming."

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Notes to editors

For further information or an interview with a Countryside Agency spokesperson please contact the press office on 020 7340 2906/7/9 

  • Tourism is worth £12 billion a year in the English countryside (£9 billion on day trips), supports 380,000 jobs in rural England and underpins 25,000 mostly small businesses.  

The Countryside Agency is responsible for advising government and taking action on issues affecting the social, economic and environmental well being of the English countryside.