Extract from committee stage (Lords) (day 5) of the Agriculture Bill: CPRE - July 21
Wednesday, 22 July 2020 08:08
Lord Whitty (Lab) [V]:...I well remember when I was first made an
Agriculture Minister—over 20 years ago now—and I was told that the
average age of English farmers was about 59; I was slightly younger
at that point, but not a lot. I was slightly shocked at that, but
then I was told that this was always the case, because you either
inherited your land from your father or your uncle or you had to
save up enough money to buy the land. Another way in was provided
from the beginning of the...Request free
trial
(Lab) [V]:...I well remember when I was first made an
Agriculture Minister—over 20 years ago now—and I was told that the
average age of English farmers was about 59; I was slightly younger
at that point, but not a lot. I was slightly shocked at that, but
then I was told that this was always the case, because you either
inherited your land from your father or your uncle or you had to
save up enough money to buy the land. Another way in was provided
from the beginning of the last century by many rural counties,
which established tenancies directly for young farmers who could
not afford to enter in the normal way through inheritance or
purchase. It was a successful scheme, and it continued and was
reinforced after the Second World War. However, from the 1980s,
there was a drastic fall in the number of tenancies and the acreage
covered by such tenancies almost halved. We sped it up a bit around
2000 but in the last 10 years, as a recent report by the
CPRE shows, there has been a further
10% decline in the areas covered by county tenancies...
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