Farmers from all sectors of the North Cumbrian agricultural industry are suffering from either low prices or a delay in their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments having significant impact on their businesses – a senior NFU officeholder is coming to Cumbria to listen to the concerns of the members in the patch.
Minette Batters, Deputy President of the NFU, will travel to Wigton on Wednesday 17 February and will address an open meeting (lead by the team at NFU Carlisle) at the Greenhill Hotel – starting at 7.30pm.
The position of the NFU Presidency will be contested at the organisation’s national conference in Birmingham on Wednesday 24 February. Minette Batters and NFU Cumbria Council Delegate Alistair Mackintosh, who will also be in attendance at the event, are both candidates that have challenged the current incumbent, Meurig Raymond, for the top job.
Issues such as BPS, continuing low prices paid to dairy farmers and the marketing of beef and sheep will no doubt be discussed.
Carlisle NFU group secretary, Keith Twentyman, said: “We are very pleased to have a current national officeholder in the county at a time of deepening crisis in all sectors of our industry.”
NFU Cumbria County Chairman, David Raine of Old Parks in Kirkoswald, will chair the meeting and also present will be Mike Gorton, NFU North West Dairy Board Chairman.
