A DEMONSTRATION by East Lancashire farmers protesting about falling milk prices was a timely reminder of the crisis facing the industry. But it is, however, only the tip of the iceberg.

The entire farming industry - dairy, beef, pigs, hill - faces melt down.

The government has got to accept that the entire industry is in crisis.

So far, it appears to have turned a blind eye to a situation that has seen farmers going bankrupt at a terrifying rate and, tragically, given them as a group one of the highest suicide rates in the country.

It was this sort of attitude, taken by successive governments in the 1970s and 80s, which virtually wiped out Britain's deep sea fishing industry.

Farming is heading the same way.

The government has got to face reality and stop trying to convince the country that it is doing everything possible for farmers. It may work with the chattering classes who would have difficulty telling a sheep from a goat, but in the real world of rural industry they know different.

Dairy farmers are getting a pittance for milk. They sell it at around nine pence a pint but by the time it reaches the supermarket shelves it is anything up to 38 pence a pint.

Similar margins apply for beef, lamb and pork.

It does not need an economist to work out that bankruptcy is sure to follow such trading patterns.

This country now risks losing its farming industry.

And that would be catastrophic. It would leave us at the mercy of foreign producers.

French farmers must be rubbing their hands in anticipation.

The government has got to recognise that fundamental British industries must be protected.

And there is nothing more fundamental than the farming industry.

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