Caroline Spelman announces help for hill farmers

So hill farmers are going to be given help to access the internet and be paid for conservation (Farming Today March 10). But according to Caroline Spelman these acts of generosity are not so that hill farming can become a sustainable way of living, but to ensure that the farmers can fill in all their forms and, wait for it, become more competitive.  As though being competitive should ever be an end in itself.  It would surely require an infinite number of markets if all hill farmers were able to compete successfully — otherwise we’re back where we started, with hill farmers unable to survive.  This winner takes all mentality will be the end of us all.