I HAVE no doubt that John Lewis (Letters, October 13) has lived through some very hard times and I have great respect for the sacrifices made by all who fought for our country, but I must respond to his claims that farmers are calling for more and more subsidies because they are somehow unwilling to work for a living.

Subsidies are not what farmers want. All we ask for is a level playing field.

Farmers are inundated with paperwork, rules and red tape to ensure that our products are the best quality, while cheap foreign imports produced to lower standards flood the market.

Overheads continue to rise whilst our produce can only be sold at a loss.

There are very few hill farmers and those who still have small family farms who ride about in BMWs.

They have been squeezed out of existence by large businesses which change our communities for ever.

Many farmers have second jobs to keep their loss-making farms going. We don't want sympathy and handouts. We want a fair deal.

Ms J SHUTTLEWORTH, North Holme, Earby.