Ministers have unveiled their strategy to revitalise the hard-pressed farming sector.

Having completed consultations with farmers, rural groups, food and consumer groups, the government placed a strong emphasis on promoting "sustainable" food and farming.

Forum Response: National Consumer Council

Deirdre Hutton, chairman of the NCC, said: "Consumer confidence in food has taken a battering over recent years and, for it to be restored, the government's good intentions must be acted upon. Policy makers at all levels must pick up and run with this strategy if we are to create a more sustainable, competitive and diverse farming and food sector which meets the needs of consumers.

"The government's proposals focus on many of the issues that concern consumers, including animal welfare, food assurance schemes and the efficiency of the food chain. But a few areas of the strategy are lacking in detail.

"For instance, NCC has campaigned for several years for regulation on the farm to be reviewed and strengthened but the government's strategy makes no detailed recommendations on regulatory reform."

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

Bill Moyes, director general of the BRC, said: "The government's strategy rightly emphasises the need to serve the customer. All the components of the food chain must work together to give customers what they want - the right products on the shelf at the right price.

"The interests of consumers are best protected by a competitive food chain. It is government's role to ensure a free and fair market place, where those involved in the modern British food economy compete at each and every level of the chain on the level of service, quality of product and value for money that they offer to British consumers. Government has no role in setting prices or margins.

"The BRC is involved in a raft of measures - including assurance schemes, the Food Chain Centre and the Organics Action Plan - which demonstrate retail's ongoing support for the government's strategy on food and farming."

Forum Response: Country Land and Business Association

Sir Edward Greenwell, president of the CLA, said: "Two days ago, the CLA set out the '10 Commitments' that the government must make in order to secure a sustainable future for the British farming and food industry.

"While the Strategy goes some way towards meeting some of our concerns, it lacks recognition that government must take the lead in kick-starting recovery, with financial support where required, rather than putting the onus on an already much-weakened industry.

"This is disappointing and an opportunity largely missed. The government's acknowledgement that farming matters to the rural and national economy is welcome. However, the industry cannot survive on words. If British farming is to lift itself out of crisis and flourish and grow, the government must create a fertile policy climate and must give it the support - financial and otherwise - that it needs. We will continue to press for the needs of the industry to be met."

Forum Response: National Trust

Fiona Reynolds, director-general of the National Trust, said: "The National Trust is delighted that the government has embraced the Curry reform package. The strategy shows the government is committed to a new way forward for the farming and food industry. We now await an ambitious delivery plan and targets that lead to visible progress not only in a year's time, but over the next decade and beyond.

"Together with our tenants, we have been implementing our own sustainable farming programme for three years and we have no doubt that there are immense opportunities out there for farmers and rural businesses if we act now.

"We look forward to using our experience in delivering change across our 245,000ha farmed estate to work with government on implementing the strategy."

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

A spokesman for the IoD told ePolitix.com: "Although we welcome today's announcement we've seen from recent data that British farming is in its worst crisis since the 1930s. It is caught between suffocating red tape and collapsing incomes. The red tape burden should clearly be lifted to give British farmers a level playing field and agricultural support policy needs a thorough overhaul.

"Of course radical reform of CAP is also desperatly needed and we hope that the twin pressures of future international trade negotiations and enlargement will prove to be more successful in reforming CAP than the past tepid attempts."

Forum Response: English Nature

Sir Martin Doughty, chair of English Nature, said: "Farming businesses need considerable help in addressing some major environmental challenges they will face over the coming years.

"English Nature believes that maintaining and restoring a wildlife-rich rural environment can, and should, be at the heart of profitable farming. I am pleased that Sir Donald Curry will be the Chairman of the Strategy Implementation Group to maintain the continuity in this crucial area."

Forum Response: Royal Agricultural Society

A spokesman for the Royal Agricultural Society told ePolitix.com: "This is a long awaited document - the Curry report was published in January 2002 and the RASE agreed with the broad thrust of that report. Farmers will be relieved to learn that the need for a profitable and internationally competitive industry remains a goal for DEFRA.

"Delivery and making the strategy work must be the priority for DEFRA, along with farmers and farming organisations. At first glance, most of the initiatives trumpeted today have actually already been announced and work is underway. For instance the £500m over the next three years was confirmed in the Spending Review in July, and the farm demonstration network is being set up.

"Confirmation that there will be a shift to a whole farm basis to regulation is new and should be beneficial. The extra role for Food From Britain to help small food producers is to be welcomed.

"The Royal Agricultural Society of England looks forward to continuing to play its part in securing a long-term future for British farming."

Forum Response: The Woodland Trust

A spokesman for The Woodland Trust told ePolitix.com: "We welcome much of what is contained in DEFRA's strategy for sustainable food and farming. However we urge the government that rapid implementation is needed. It is important that the strategy does not simply remain a fine statement of intention but is swiftly translated into action.

"We especially welcome the clear message in the document of the real need for change in the way that the industry is supported and that this means moving away from paying subsidies for production towards paying for the benefits to society that farming must deliver, such as biodiversity, public access, landscape enhancement and natural resource protection. The Trust also welcomes the commitment to CAP reform which is so essential to affecting the major changes proposed in the way that farming is subsidised.

"Another very welcome step forward is the new Entry Level Scheme that will be available to all farmers. This should help significantly in improving the environmental benefits across the whole country beyond those required by regulation and market demand.

"The Woodland Trust is dispappointed however that the Curry report and now the government's own strategy remain very much focussed on farmland itself rather than on the wider countryside. Given the change in emphasis outlined in this strategy such a broader perspective is more necessary than ever. Agriculture does not exist in isolation from other land uses such as forestry and if the delivery of 'the better environment' sought by the government in the document is to become a reality then it will require more joined up thinking in terms of sustainable landuse generally rather than simply sustainable farming alone."

Forum Response: Countryside Agency

Richard Wakeford, chief executive of the Countryside Agency, said: "The government have produced an excellent strategy. Delivering it will require a change in much of the perceived thinking about the countryside. It demands a new mindset among food producers, retailers and consumers.

"We are pleased that our ideas have been taken on board. This includes the recognition that the market for locally produced foods needs to beincreased, to reconnect consumers with producers; encouragement for co-operation and collaboration among all the organisations involved in farming, food and rural issues; and the focus on agri-environment schemes to reward farmers for providing environmental and other public benefits.

"The strategy recognises the importance of cohesive and inclusive communities in the countryside with access to good public and private services. Better provision of education, training and knowledge transfer within the rural communities will ensure that the rural economy has a strong future - a future in which agriculture plays an important part.

"The Countryside Agency will work closely with Defra to demonstrate the potential for change in the countryside. We will closely monitor the success of its delivery."

Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

Richard Burge, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: "The document clearly recognises the complexity of the situation facing British agriculture and shows that the government is starting to realise how perilous the situation is. The strategy must provide opportunities for younger people to find gainful and worthwhile employment while using the land in a sustainable way. Only then will the rural economy, and the communities which are supported by it, flourish.

"There is a long hard road ahead for the countryside and no one should be in any doubt that difficult decisions must be made but the government must provide real hope for rural communities by adequately resourcing this strategy and fully funding all the recommendations of the Curry report."