Farmers are being advised by Defra that they have just two weeks left to suggest ways of cutting the red tape which is strangling their industry.

The new Coalition set up a Farming Regulation Task Force to examine thousands of complaints from farmers about the hours they spend filling in forms. To reform the system, the task force asked farmers to come forward with their ideas on how best to slash the red tape.

The deadline for suggestions is October 31 and task force chairman Richard Macdonald says: “We have been charged with finding ways to completely change the culture of regulation and our consultation has already identified a number of priority issues.

“But we want to be absolutely sure that these are based on the real world of agriculture and food processing – to do this we need ideas and suggestions from people who experience this red tape every day and they only have until 31 October to tell us.”

Evidence can be submitted online here