Tough choices ahead as fuel price hits farmers

Saturday 5th July 2008, 9:29AM BST.

FARMER Alan Le Patourel (pictured) is predicting rising fuel costs will force people to change the way they live and eat.

‘In the last 10 years people have had an easy life. They could travel where they wanted and eat what they wanted. Now they are going to have to make choices,’ he said.

‘Everyone is suffering and people will have to get used to it. We can’t just shut up shop, we have to keep going.’

He warned that higher food prices were inevitable. ‘The increased cost of diesel was affecting cattle feed prices as well as transport and that was damaging farmers’ profits.

‘The price of cattle feed is going up which is tied to world wheat prices,’ he said.