Dairy Industry

I agree and I thank the hon. Gentleman for that contribution, as the situation is much as he describes. Issues associated with bovine TB ring out from cases brought to his surgery and to mine. Sadly, there are few signs that the regulatory burden is lifting. In fact, many farmers across the UK are seriously worried about the impact of the nitrate-vulnerable zone regulations, which are likely to have significant cost implications by requiring farms to build storage units for slurry. I have heard estimates that implementation of the regulations will require capital costs of £300 million to £400 million. Does the Minister agree with those figures? How does the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs plan to mitigate the effect of those measures and where will the burden fall? The great environmental challenges of our day are not lost on our farming community, but there are serious concerns about how the terms of the regulations will be met. I commend to the Minister the work on methane emissions undertaken by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, which is based in my constituency. The result of the shift in the balance of production and retail costs has been disastrous in Wales. I will resist the temptation to stray into devolved matters and will simply cite some examples. The Welsh Assembly revealed in its latest aggregate agricultural statistics that income from farming in Wales fell by about £44 million between 2005 and 2006. That dramatic reduction is mainly due to a downward slide in the value of milk and milk products that amounts to £23.9 million. The net result, which I am sure has been the experience of other Members in their constituencies, is that dairy farmers have left the industry. In Wales, the figure has fallen by about 30 per cent. to 2,400 farms.