The wider effects of ending farm subsidies | Letters

Polly Toynbee (The Tories are split over farming. It’s hard not to gloat, 1 August) raises important issues. Subsidies were intended to lower food prices and increase discretionary income for manufactured products. The subsidy fills the gap between production costs and farm-gate prices, which were lowered by imports and by allowing food-chain “efficiencies” resulting in domination by the supermarkets. The inflexibility of EU-wide subsidies resulted a few years ago in tiny farm incomes, despite substantial investment in farms. This, combined with oppressive and chaotic management of subsidies by Defra, resulted in support for Brexit. Loss of subsidies will result in the closure of most affected farms that cannot subsidise themselves with non-farming income. Perhaps the price of rural holidays will have to increase. You also report increased suicide rates amongst Indian farmers due to climate change (Farmers’ suicides linked to climate, 1 August), but suicides in response to agricultural depression are not uncommon in UK, either. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas is buying Strutt and Parker (Report, 1 August), famous for major land sales. French bankers clearly see a growing opportunity in selling distressed UK farms. Buyers will keep huge areas under common management, regardless of local land quality and ecosystems. Merged farms will need to use large suppliers, while smaller suppliers will go out of business. Small rural communities and dedicated local infrastructure will become unsustainable, reducing opportunities for tourism or even online businesses. Changes to subsidies will affect far more people than just farmers and will need to be considered very carefully. Huw Jones St Clears, Carmarthenshire • Undoubtedly climate change, as reported by Berkeley University, has caused the suicide of many farmers in India. Climate change has been speeded up by the unrestrained globalisation of our neoliberal world, but another consequence of globalisation is also a cause of a suicides among Indian farmers. A quarter of a million farmers committed suicide between 1995 and 2012, driven to despair by the stranglehold multinational corporations exert over seed production. Farmers were enticed by seed companies’ claims of increased yields and less in pesticide use. But these were empty promises. Instead, escalating costs, reduced yields and the resulting debts played havoc with the livelihoods of cotton growers. All this is detailed in the horrifying film Cotton for my Shroud. Michael McLoughlin Wallington, Surrey • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters