A review of the entire agriculture sector has been welcomed by Wharfedale farmers as the Government tries to tackle the crisis gripping British farming.

A sheep cull was among the proposals "under consideration", Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said after an emergency meeting with farmers' leaders last night.

Mr Brown spent almost three hours discussing the bleak economic outlook for farmers in England and Wales with Ben Gill, president of the National Farmers Union. Afterwards the minister admitted a sheep cull was a possibility. But, he warned, "that isn't a solution in itself".

Today, Michael Rhodes, secretary of the Otley-based Wharfedale NFU group, said that in his 37 years in the industry he had seen nothing like the crisis facing farmers today.

"Now we have every sector of the industry under extreme pressure for one reason or another.

"If there's no serious review carried out - one that's not simply a delaying tactic - I fear for the future of small and tenant farmers."

Farmers were not crying wolf, he said, adding: "If we're going to see an agriculture industry still in place, even as a shadow of what we have had, something has to happen and quickly."

He said he believed a ewe cull with "reasonable amounts of compensation" would be a huge relief to the industry.

An Ilkley farmer who keeps around 1,500 sheep said that even with a cull prices would take a year or two to rise.

"I think some of us are going to find it very difficult to survive," added the farmer, who did not want to be named.

Mr Gill said the review must tackle a regulatory system he described as "bureacuracy gone mad" since the 1930s.

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