DARTMOOR hill farmers last Thursday had a golden opportunity to get their views across to the Government on how it can support their industry so it it can survive and thrive in the future.

David Heath MP, the Minister of Agriculture and Food, accepted an invitation by the Dartmoor Hill Farm Project to meet their representatives at Moorlands Farm, near Two Bridges.

The minister, the MP for Somerton and Frome in Somerset, was welcomed by the Moorland Farm's Layland Branfield, Dartmoor National Park Authority chief executive Kevin Bishop, manager of the DHFP Sandra Dodd, the chairman of the Dartmoor Forestry trustees Colin Abel and the DNPA agricultural and environment facilitator, John Walden.

Mr Branfield, the deputy chairman of the Dartmoor Commoners Council, has been running his farm for 26 years, with its combination of suckler beef cattle and hill sheep.

He said: 'We really appreciate the minister taking his time to listen to us today so we can present our ideas and for him to have the opportunity to give us reassurances about the future.

'What we really want is for him to help ensure this industry for the next generation.'

Mr Branfield knows through personal experience the hardships of hill farming — in 2001 he lost his herd and flock, culled as a result of the foot and mouth disease which blighted the countryside.

Layland said: 'We, as a farm, are in better shape now than we were ten years ago following effects of foot and mouth, but this is the third time I've had to start building up a flock and herd. Hill farming is something I love but it has taken a lot of hard work and effort to turn things around.'

Hill farmers are paid for sustaining the Dartmoor landscapes and rural communities through management agreements, but Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and UK government decisions have reduced those payments significantly.

'There are new rounds of CAP underway and we want to tell the minister how its reforms can affect Dartmoor,' said Layland.

Mr Heath told the Times: 'I was happy to come here today to see what is going on in Dartmoor.

'Hill farming on Dartmoor is very different from what I am used to, which is dairy farming in Somerset. I want to hear first-hand the particular problems that are being faced by hill farmers.

'Now with pillar two of the CAP reform, we need to design policies to provide the best way to protect public money, but at the same time work with farmers to bring environmental benefits and also to encourage tourism and recreation.'

One of the initiatives the Dartmoor group told the minister about was the Moor Skills project — set up by the Dartmoor Hill Farm Project with the DNPA and the Duchy of Cornwall — offering apprenticeships to young people to maintain the skills and traditions of hill farming for future generations.

Mr Heath praised the Moor Skills project, which has been so successful that it has now been held as a model for other rural areas throughout the country.

He said: 'I have been very impressed with Moor Skills.

'We have to attract young people into farming and keep them there by encouraging them to ensure the future of the industry.

'Meaningful apprenticeships, where a person could work in a number of different farms and learn new skills is a very worthwhile scheme.'

One such beneficiary of the scheme is 21 year-old farming apprentice Mark Druett.

Mark, from Princetown and a former Tavistock College pupil, works on two farms, including Moorland Farm.

'I enjoy it a lot. I love the outdoors and working with the livestock.

'During the scheme I've learned to drive a tractor, using the telehandler, taken a quad bike certificate, repaired fencing and done stone walling. It can be hard work but I'm not afraid of hard work.'