Sir, - I nearly choke when I hear the farmers in Brussels defending their argument for unchanged subsidy on the basis of being guardians of the environment.
In the UK farmers have destroyed miles of hedgerows and their use of pesticides and herbicides have almost wiped out once common wildlife - even skylarks and sparrows are now threatened. In our own country, farmers pour slurry into our rivers and lakes and we grow accustomed to news reports of major fish kills. Fertiliser bags, old bits of machinery and other farm litter mar the countryside. Marginal land is overgrazed and sheep, which have served their purpose once the subsidy is paid, are left to die and rot on the hillsides.
Farmers should be the protectors of the environment and, with less pressure to produce, this is a role that as a taxpayer I would be glad to support. But I resent European money subsidising the destruction of the environment through careless and greedy farming practices. -Yours, etc.,
Judith Wilkinson, Dunluce Road, Dublin 3.