DEAR SIR: Farmers are living a borderline existence. While their assets have increased in value over the years, their income has not grown in comparison to the industrial wage. This is partly because the cost of inputs has increased a lot more than what they are getting for the produce that they are selling and there are a lot of people getting money out of the finished product that they are selling.

The cost of living and rearing a family on a farm income is a non-runner nowadays. You have to have another source of income. There is to be a review of the farm payments in 2019. Any new payments should be made on the value of a farmers’ income rather than on a per-ha basis.

A lot of farmers owe a lot of money to the banks. Agriculture is heading down the same road as the building industry did a number of years ago. This is due to bankers cashing in on people trying to better their standard of living. It’s the banks that will benefit from ordinary worker’s hardship.