DORSET farmers have responded to warnings of a “silent crisis” in the farming sector.

A new report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) states that smaller farms in England are in steep decline and, along with them, the diversity in food and landscape which they provide.

The report says that almost one-third of farms under 50 hectares disappeared between 2005 and 2015.

It calls on the government to investigate the changes occurring in the farming sector so as to have an informed debate about how the country should manage the sector, particularly as it decides its agricultural policy post-Brexit.

Graeme Willis, food and farming campaigner at the CPRE, said: “There is a silent crisis in the farming sector. Smaller farms struggle to compete in the current market and, if the current trends continue, they could all but disappear from the English countryside by the middle of the century.”

Farmer James Cossins, National Farmers’ Union chairman for Dorset, agreed with the campaign group that smaller farms are facing a crisis.

He said: “I think I would probably agree and a lot of small farms have had a look at alternative sources of income, which could be outside of farming or could be marketing their own produce, doing different things on their farm, etcetera.”

Farmer Wakely Cox, from Warren Hill Farm in Puddletown, said: “I wouldn’t say they are in steep decline, no. I think they are holding their own as much as anything else.”

He added that in Dorset specifically he had not seen any big decline in smaller farms.

Despite this, he was supportive of the campaign group’s call for the government to investigate the changes going on in the sector.

He said: “I think it would be a good if they did an investigation, but possibly they are not keen to implement anything yet until they get an outcome from Brexit.” 

Andy Foot, a farmer in Buckland Newton, said that it was younger farmers he was most concerned about at present.

He said: “I would say the threat to farming is not about big or small, it’s about how resilient your business is. My worry rather than smaller farms or big farms is the younger, more dynamic farmers who have taken up money to either start or expand their business.”

He said that these farmers were the future of farming, but due to the debt they may be in they are more at risk from market volatility or interest rate rises.

However, he did think that the government should do more to look at how the farming sector is changing.

He said: “I think the government needs at this crucial time to listen to industry, to use their knowledge and expertise, to come up with the right polices.”