Stocking restrictions will force farmers off uplands


10 September 1998


Stocking restrictions ‘will force farmers off uplands’


TWO associations representing livestock farmers claim that European Union plans for lower stocking rates will force people off the hills and uplands.

The National Beef Association and the National Sheep Association claim that Europes Agenda 2000 proposals penalising stocking rates of more than 1.4 units per hectare would have a severe impact on farmers whose livelihood is already under threat.

John Thorley, the chief executive of the National Sheep Association, said: “Environmental lobbyists seem to make no connection between the depopulation of farm animals and the depopulation of farmers.”

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