A SOMERSET MP has lambasted the county council’s “appalling” decision to sell off its county farms.

Somerset County Council voted in October 2010 to begin selling off a large number of its farms, retaining some as smaller plots for younger farmers.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, the MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said on Wednesday (March 18) that this decision had “stopped an entire generation of young people going into farming”.

His comments come as the government’s agriculture bill – which will set out how the sector will be run and funded post-Brexit – approaches its third reading in the House of Commons.

Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East, raised the issue in the House on Wednesday (March 18) as part of a debate Mr Liddell-Grainger had secured.

She said: “I have read that Somerset County Council has sold off nearly two-thirds of its agricultural land in the past decade.

“My committee is looking at how we can better support county farms, which the government have promised to do in the past.

“Does [Mr Liddell-Grainger] think it is a real shame that the council no longer owns those farms, which often provided an entry to farming for people who could not afford to buy huge swathes of land themselves?”

Mr Liddell-Grainger – a frequent critic of the county council – responded: “Yes, it is appalling that the council sold them off. I was totally against their being sold off.

“County farms were the way that young people got into farming – the way people could get on the farming ladder. The farms were not big – they were comparatively small – but they gave people a chance.

“Any county that sold them off is an absolute disgrace. Yes, of course, I know that they wanted the money, but we have stopped an entire generation of young people going into farming.

“I am 61, and the average age of farmers is my age. How long can we sustain real farmers?”

Mr Liddell-Grainger said farmers in his constituency were “understandably anxious” regarding Britain’s future trading relationship with Europe, describing the dairy industry as “close to broke”.

His constituency is home to Yeo Valley, as well as the Muller milk company and a number of upland farmers on Exmoor.

He said: “When this dreadful virus is behind us, there is one other thing that farmers fear: a post-Brexit tariff war with Europe.

“Make no mistake, farming is a vital industry in Somerset. It employs, indirectly and directly, many hundreds of people, but it is forced to look over its shoulder and count the pennies all the time.

“I want the new agriculture bill to match every EU subsidy pound for pound, improve the way that farmers are paid and protect the quality of British products against foreign competition.”

Assistant whip James Morris MP said the agriculture bill was “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to improve farmers’ lots while protecting the natural environment and reducing flooding.

The bill is expected to be passed by the summer, and will be phased in over a period of seven years up to 2027.

Mr Morris said: “This government will always back British farmers, who are some of the very best in the world, taking care of our landscapes and animals, all while feeding the nation, just as they have done for generation after generation.

“We will match 2019 levels [of subsidy] in every year of this parliament.”

Somerset County Council stated in April 2018 that it had no legal duty to provide farms of any size.

A spokesman said: ” As a county council we have no statutory obligation to provide county farms and use third parties to provide appropriate valuations.

“About half of the farms since the change in policy in 2010 have been sold to tenants in whole or part.”

It added in May 2019 that it would continue to provide “small blocks of bare land” (between five and 20 acres in size) on a ten-year lease to help newcomers enter farming, and would work with Bridgwater and Taunton College to achieve this end.

The council was approached for a new comment on the matter, but said it did not have the resources to respond due to the coronavirus.