ONLY by stripping away subsidies completely could farming become profitable, Sean Rickard, the controversial ex-NFU chief economist, told farmers at a Monmouthshire meeting.

In a controversial speech, he told the annual county conference that small farms would have to go so that the food supply could be reduced. Some 26 per cent of farms provided 82 per cent of agricultural output and those larger units would survive, he said.

The food supply chain, he continued, was unlike any other supply because of the adversarial nature of the unit - buyers, processors and farmers.

"This is partly because farmers are focused on subsidies, rather than customers," he said.

"The answer is for farmers and farmer co-operatives working with processors to dominate segments of the market."

In a sometimes heated question-and-answer session, farmers agreed that they wanted to focus on the market, but argued that they faced higher production costs and more stringent regulations than their foreign competitors.

Glyn Williams, the retiring chairman said: "Other countries can import cheap food into Britain that doesn't meet our standards. We will never compete with those prices. There must be a level playing field."

Mr Williams raised a few eyebrows when he said the Government proposed to place a vet at every livestock market at a cost of £85 an hour.