Yesterday, Sir Geoffrey chaired the third Dartmoor Forum at the Bedford Hotel in Tavistock, where he held a roundtable and public forum with upland farmers from across Dartmoor.
Sir Geoffrey was able to secure the attendance of the Farming Minister, Daniel Zeichner MP, as well as the Deputy President of the NFU David Exwood, David Fursdon, the new chair of the Dartmoor Land Use Management Group (LUMG), and representation from Natural England.
The core purpose of the meetings was to discuss the implementation of David Fursdon's independent Dartmoor Review, which aims to dramatically improve the lives of upland farmers by bringing together and forging closer relationships between farmers and Dartmoor's statutory bodies, whilst also improving biodiversity and sustainability of Dartmoor's unique environment.
Inevitably, the Government's recent decisions, such as the brutal family farm death tax, the cutting of £400 million in real terms from the agriculture budget, the uncertain future of Bovine TB policy, the sudden and abrupt suspension of capital grants and now of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (schemes on which the livelihoods of farming families depend) did not provide a very good background for the Minister’s visit, but both the Minister’s presence and his words demonstrated a very welcome commitment to the process that commenced three years ago.
