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74 And P.77). These Include Such Regions As Wales, With Its Unique Hill ...

74 and p.77). These include such regions as Wales, with its unique hill farming industry, East Anglia for the cereal output and, to some extent, Cornwall for its wheat and grain. In Wales for example, over a wide area of the country agriculture is still the industry that is central to the regions community and economy. However, despite this fact the area has still witness a reduction in the number of people employed in agriculture (Jones 1999, p.185 and p.309). As has been noted earlier, most other agricultural regions, including Cornwall have experienced a similar decline in the employment base.
Nevertheless, in terms of preserving the countryside and agricultural industry, there is still somewhere in the region of eighteen million hectares of land in the United Kingdom that is used for agricultural purpose (Petty 2002, p.30), for which an effective management strategy has needed to be developed over the years. Certainly, if the UK wishes to halt the decline in the levels of self-sufficiency
However, as has been widely recorded, efforts to revitalise the industry have been thwarted by several events that have had an adverse effect upon the industry. For example, in early 2001, as noted by UK Agriculture (2007), the decline was exacerbated by a serious outbreak of foot and mouth within the animal population and this, followed by health risks from BSE and swine fever, severely curtailed the agricultural industry's ability to expand within both the home and international market places.
Following these events, and in an effort to reposition the importance of agriculture within the economy, the NFU, one of the most active representative bodies for the industry campaigned for the government and the EU to create an innovative plan in an effort to restore public confidence in home produced food (Greer 2005, p.40). Similarly, farmers in Wales in the late part of the last century engaged in a series of active protests, which were aimed mainly at reducing the effect that subsidised imports
In response to these concerns and also as a result of the initiatives set in place by the European Union, DEFRA has produced and discussed a number of strategies over recent years. With the central focus of these being action required nationally to seek a restructure of the agricultural industry into a more efficient sector (Greer 2005, p.129), the organisation's purpose is to restore the former prosperity of the regions. Whilst maintaining the unified approach, development plans have been set in place for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Greer 2005, p.41).


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