FARMERS were invited to Landscove Village Hall this week for the ‘Future Farming Resilience’ event.

The event was held to help farmers and land managers navigate the changes brought about by the Agricultural Transition, which is currently just beginning. Any farmer or land manager who receives BPS (Basic Payment Scheme payments) in England is eligible for these events, as well as further free business advice in the early years of the transition.

The reaction to the transition was mixed. Brett Day, a farmer of a smallholding near Newton Abbot said: ‘The payments are quite difficult for small holdings. The prescription for doing things is quite high but the amount you get per hectare is quite low. We’ll have to weigh up whether it’s worth it.

‘I only have a small farm, so I try to be a custodian of the land. These subsidies are really important to help farmers put back and continue to look after the countryside.’

Brian Merchant, a dairy farmer from Penn Farm, said: ‘It’s looking at the ways forward, nothing’s set in stone and we’re not seeing any money yet despite the rising costs of everything.

‘We’ll just do the same as always and muddle through. We’re a resilient bunch, but it’s a long transition. If we’re not careful, we’ll all be starving soon!’