FARMERS in Dorset face a decade of ‘damaging uncertainty’ if the government waits until Brexit to deliver its promises, ministers have been warned.

National Trust director Helen Ghosh is urging leaders to act quickly to establish a support programme for farmers before it is ‘too late’.

At a BBC Countryfile Live talk, Dame Helen said: “Our countryside has its greatest opportunity in a generation to thrive if the government delivers on its promises to reward nature-friendly farming.

“Farmers, in response to uncertainty about the future and income, have ploughed up pasture which was created with support from EU environmental money.

“We are within touching distance of a vision for the future of farming that sees thriving businesses successfully meeting the needs of the nation into the 21st century and beyond.

“The longer we wait, the more we risk losing all the gains we have made over the last decade.”

CLA, representing landowners, farmers and rural businesses, has also spoken out after it was revealed that 84 per cent of people think the government should spend money on preserving and managing the countryside, and 21 per cent of people think the amount of public money being spent on the countryside is not enough.

It comes after a recent survey commissioned by the organisation titled ‘The Countryside Matters’, carried out as part of the debate over how the government should support and fund the countryside post-Brexit.