BREXIT offers the farming industry a “fantastic opportunity” to build a brand new agricultural policy that works for Britain and improves upon the “hopeless bureaucracy” imposed by the EU.

Speaking at the recent Northern Farming Conference, Defra farming minister George Eustice said that farming regulations in a post-Brexit Britain needed to be sharper, less bureaucratic and rooted in good ideas and common sense.

More than 200 conference delegates at Hexham Auction Mart were urged by speakers to pull together to embrace the opportunities offered by Brexit – and to lobby their MPs to ensure agriculture remained at the top of the agenda..

Durham arable and beef farmer Bill Chrystal made an impassioned plea for change: “Let farmers farm; we are tired of people who should know better stopping us from farming.”

Mr Eustice reassured him and, discussing the possibility of a support framework subject to regional variations, said Britain now needed the “ability and agility” to decide what works and act upon it. “The EU got it wrong because it attempted to codify every single feature of the landscape and every single thing a farmer does with his land, which made it hopelessly bureaucratic," said Mr Eustice. "The weakness of the EU schemes is that if they get it wrong it takes seven years to sort it out. We need to be much sharper.

“The question is how best we can support agriculture. If we want good policy it needs to be rooted in good ideas. We need to remove the blinkers of EU membership and work together to build a policy that, a decade from now, the world will want to emulate. I am confident we can do that.

“I think this is a fantastic opportunity for our industry going forwards. It is the chance of a lifetime and I am looking forward to building a brand new agricultural policy that works for us.”

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board chairman and former NFU president, Sir Peter Kendall, said: “I want to build a future for our rural community, a future that works. We have to make the challenges and opportunities presented by Brexit work for us. I would stake my farm on the fact there is not going to be more money. We need to plan for less support and more competition.

Sir Peter continued: “Trade is fundamental to our future. It is a massively important issue and we must make sure the government is listening to us every step of the way. Brexit is not just about the city of London.”

He urged farmers to use the time before Brexit to really consider the threats and opportunities ahead. “Think about your farm business very carefully. See where you sit among your peers, and your global competitors. Make plans. Go to your MP’s surgery and talk to them; make sure that farming is at the front of their minds. It is vital we get this right.”

Northumberland potato farmer Anthony Carroll told farmers they needed “courage, commitment and self-belief”.

“Are you going to come in the farm door or are you just going to hover at the entrance?" he asked. "We have to change. We have to listen to what the market wants but if we can pull together we can make UK agriculture great again.”

The conference did not solely revolve around Brexit. Discussing the importance of succession planning and a timely handover, CLA president Ross Murray said: “The serious point is that ownership and, in particular, farming is hard work and needs energy and progressive ideas, and the secret is, if at all possible within family businesses, to hand on earlier rather than later, with plenty of warning, training and management of expectations.

“What we all should recognise is that change is a constant. It is to be welcomed and embraced, not run away from. That route spells disaster. Farming as an industry has a queue of bright and hungry youngsters wanting to kick on, frustrated by the lack of opportunity. There are plenty of bed blockers and we all know who we are. Retirement is never an easy subject for a proud community of farmers, and somehow it must happen.”