Shropshire Council emphasises its support for county’s agricultural sector

Shropshire Council and Shropshire Business Board have emphasised their strong support for local farmers and for businesses in the county’s agriculture and land-based sector, who are facing very testing times.

The agricultural sector is very important to Shropshire with over 81% of the county’s land area designated to agricultural production – one of the highest levels in England – with more than 3500 agricultural holdings generating £170m gross value added (GVA)*.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for business, said:

“We are providing continued support for the farming industry in Shropshire and, with the NFU, we are promoting the union’s Back British Farming campaign as agriculture and horticulture remain vital to the county’s economy and our well-being.

“The dairy sector has reached a critical point where producers simply can’t continue to make such large losses. However, the issues are not just confined to dairy with many prices in other sectors at their lowest for more than five years.

“The council, Business Board and NFU will continue to harness public support, continue to fight for more British food to end up on consumers’ plates in higher value forms, and continue to press for fairer trading terms.”

The NFU and Shropshire Council have been busy ensuring retailers, food service operators and manufacturers understand the impact of unsustainable prices and volatility on Shropshire farm businesses.

This work will carry on alongside ongoing discussions with the banks, agricultural supply industries and others to try and ease the financial pressure on all farmers.

Bridgnorth farmer Richard Yates, NFU Shropshire chairman, said:

“We’re proud to produce great tasting, high quality, traceable food and we want to continue to do this for generations to come. We will fight through these financially crippling times.

“We want to see our food and drink take pride of place on retail shelves and I want to thank shoppers for their continued support and for buying British produce when they can.”

Further information

• *‘Gross value added’ (GVA) is an indicator of economic output and income generation that measures the contribution to the economy of each producer, industry or sector.
• The NFU is the voice of British farming and provides professional representation and services to its farmer and grower members.
• For further details on the Back British Farming campaign go to www.nfuonline.com/back-british-farming