Dear editor - I was alarmed to read in the farming press that the House of Lords was calling for farm subsidies to go.

Before making rash statements the House of Lords should research why farming needs subsidies and note what has happened to the farming community and rural areas because of low or nil profit margins.

The village school, post office, shop, filling station, churches and chapels are going, and homes and farms are sold to wealthy city people looking for a second home.

There is no doubt that the price paid by consumers is sufficient to maintain a healthy farming industry, the rural community and allow a fair margin for the processor and retailer.

Unfortunately a large percentage of the end price of food is demanded by supermarkets.

The House of Lords should look at the way supermarkets are operating and the effect it has on prime producers.

In 1995 I was paid 27 pence per litre for my milk, in 2007 I was paid 17 pence. But what was the price of milk on the supermarket shelves?

Potato farmers claim they are only having 20% of the price charged by supermarkets. Pig farmers are leaving the industry in droves because of rising costs, yet the supermarkets charge three times the price received by the farmer.

The future of the UK depends on having adequate food, fuel and water and the ability to pay for what we have to import to make up the deficiency.

Eric Howells Meadow View, Llanddewi Velfrey.

2:55pm Friday 9th May 2008

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