I WOULD like to add my support to the proposal from West Devon Environment Network to hold a pilot farmer's market on the square in Tavistock in June this year.
Farming is in crisis in this country and especially in the south west. Farmers' profit margins are being squeezed and many are being forced out of business. This is bad for farming, bad for the countryside, bad for the national economy and last but not least it is bad for market towns like Tavistock that rely on their rural hinterlands to keep them thriving and viable.
Allowing farmers to sell direct to the public gives them access to markets that they would not otherwise have, it enables the public to buy healthy and wholesome food and it provides a colourful and vibrant addition to Tavistock's many visitor attractions. In addition, it would be an appropriate use of the town square.
Where farmers' markets have been tried elsewhere, they have largely been very successful. The town council should reconsider its decision, and allow a pilot market to go ahead so that the effects can be properly monitored.
John Dixon
2 The Old Foundry
Mount Tavy Road
Tavistock