Christmas and New Year is a time to indulge and think of new beginnings. It is time to think of the people who make this season of good cheer possible.

This paper has rightly highlighted the plight of our farmers. They work often alone with dangerous machinery. Many of them work from before dawn to after dusk 7 days a week 364 days of the year in order to maintain what has become a declining standard of living. Many of them cannot afford to pay into a pension scheme, and find themselves tied to the land right into their old age. Their suicide rate is the highest in the country, and the rewards of the job now attract few new entrants.

Now there is a view promoted by Whitehall accountants and statisticians that, as the money farmers receive for their labour is so little, when aggregated, therefore the value of their contribution to the national economy is less important than other sectors, such as tourism or rural commerce and industry - particularly the kind of commerce which makes vast fortunes out of retailing farm produce for far more than it was bought for. I also understand there are many politicians, who think that, because farmers are so few in number, therefore their votes don't count and can safely be ignored. No wonder Prince Charles called farmers an oppressed minority. Certainly, in my view,. farmers stand between me and starvation, and there is something very wrong with society if it bites the hand that feeds us, undervalues their work and is unwilling to give them a fair reward for their labour.

The main reason for the plight of farmers is the fact that successive governments have actively encouraged superstores to establish and exploit a dominant position in the market, and so to maximise their own profit at the expense of the producers. This was achieved through central government "guidance" issued under the Town and Country Planning Acts, which penalised councils which refused permission for superstore development. So, for example, Ryedale District Council was ordered to pay thousands of pounds in costs for their defiance of Whitehall, when they refused permission for the superstore development on Clifton Moor. Incidentally, I am not against superstores in principle - what I do object to is their abuse of their dominant position in the market, by forcing farmers to accept ridiculoulsly low prices for their produce.

Until recently very little has been done to address this issue. So it is very refeshing to read the policy paper "Rural Futures" produced by the Liberal Democrats. This can be downloaded from www.libdems.org.uk (click on "policy" and then on "policies"). This paper proposes the provision of retirement funds for older farmers, linked to a young entrants scheme for new entrants. It suggests a one off tax on superstore profits, with the proceeds ploughed back into agriculture, and requires the implementation and enforcement of a "code of practice between supermarkets and their suppliers, with suitable sanctions to ensure fair trading."

Liberal Democrats are renowned for producing policies and ideas which are later adopted by other political parties, and then claimed as their own invention. Well, I do hope Labour and Conservatives will also follow the LibDem lead on "Rural Futures". Unfortunately, this is unlikely for the following two reasons.

Firstly, Labour doesn't understand the countryside. Their priorities are hopelessly misplaced: they are more concerned about saving foxes from dogs than for the improvement of the quality of life of country people.

Secondly, the Tories are so closely associated with big retailing business that their hands are tied. If you don't believe me, remember that it was the Tories who were the first to impose the planning "guidance" referred to above. Remember the friendship between Mrs. Thatcher and Lady Porter, the Tesco chairman, and disgraced leader of Westminster Council. Then again, Tory MP, Archie Norman was a senior executive in ASDA. So Conservative Party strategy seems to be based on the cynical calculation that, by supporting country pursuits such as foxhunting, they can fool country people into thinking that they are their only true champions.

I do hope I am wrong and that the other political parties will follow the LibDem lead. Perhaps, when they are stuffing themselves with seasonal cheer, Tony Blair and Ian Duncan Smith will both spare a thought for the people who produce the food for their sumptuous banquets, and make some New Year's resolutions to take real action which will give our farmers hope for the future.

See "Introduction" for my up to date views on farming policy