Topical Questions

Question: David Taylor's absence this morning is indeed marked. Does the Secretary of State agree that the quality of the farmed environment is as important to those of us who live in cities as it is to those who are fortunate enough to live and work in the countryside? Will he give us a progress report on the campaign for the farmed environment?

Answer: Very readily. We published very recently the information about the baseline survey, and we found that 85 per cent. of farmers were aware of the campaign. That shows that it has had a huge impact in a short space of time. Fifty one per cent. of farmers had some cultivable land out of production—that involved about 157,000 hectares—and a total of 174,000 hectares were managed under some form of voluntary environmental measure. That is really important, because it shows the huge amount of work that farmers are doing, and the purpose of the campaign is to encourage more farmers to do the same.

Secondary information