Subsidy has distorted the market, for every range rover owning farmer there are plenty without. For those who are tenant farmers getting out would leave them unemployed and homeless, for those who own the land (normally having farmed it for generations) it’s a tough call.
I’ve seen plenty of dairy farmers get out of dairy and into other things, in the end of the day do we want a milk industry? We could probably just get it all imported (well it would be that vial Long life stuff really)
If they leave the land what then happens to it? Houses, industrial estates? you can kiss goodbye to a nice walk along a FP as it now runs between 2 tesco warehouses.
Most people seem to think all farming is the same, comparing the big arable operations in the east to the small farmers in the hills. There are some big challenges out there for the farming industry and the country as to what it sees as important. UK Produced has traceability, quality, welfare standards and freshness on it’s side along with supporting land management and a local production set-up (butchers, Dairies, abattoirs, wholesalers etc.) so the employment chain is long. If everything we want to eat comes off a boat then we lose a lot of control over what it is, how it was produced and what is costs.