Bishops thank Prince Charles for Farmers' Fund

The Bishops of Exeter and Hereford have this week written to the Prince of Wales thanking him for the more than £600,000 he has raised to support farmers affected by flooding, foot and mouth disease and bluetongue disease.

|PIC2|Prince Charles personally donated £100,000 to the fund for the Farming Help Charities, while the Duke of Westminster and several leading supermarkets including ASDA, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose made substantial contributions.

"The re-emergence of foot and mouth combined with the impact of the flooding this summer - and now the cases of bluetongue - have created a real crisis which will be felt for months to come," said Prince Charles last week.

"I hope that this donation will make a difference for those farmers struggling to cope. They have animals to feed and bills to pay now; their feedstocks are in short supply and the future is still very uncertain. Too many farmers are on the brink."

The Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Rev Michael Langrish, is also Chairman of the Rural Strategy Group of General Synod, while the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, chairs the Rural Bishops Panel.

In their letter, they praised Prince Charles' "generous and timely initiative", while stressing the urgency of the situation.

"The movement restrictions have led to the cancelling of the season's livestock sales and many farms are now overstocked with animals that should by now have been sold. The unexpected cost of feeding those animals has hit farmers at a time when they have been deprived of any income and when feed prices have soared," wrote the Bishops.

"In some cases the cash flow situation has become desperate and the worry acute and we are grateful to the Farming Help Charities that they are there to assist and support them."

According to the Bishops, the church-supported Farm Crisis Network has reported an increase in the number of calls from farmers within the Diocese of Exeter and Hereford seeking assistance, as well as the number of families they have referred to RABI (the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution) and the ARC-Addington Fund for financial assistance.

The Bishops added in their letter: "The combination of the events that have hit farmers across the country have engendered a very real fear for the future and initiatives such as yours provide encouragement and hope.

"We have been encouraging congregations in our own dioceses to contribute to the Farming Help Charities and will continue to press for further donations from other sources."