FARMERS are being urged to get together over a few pints and thrash out ways to take Cumbrian agriculture forward.

Two bar meetings are being staged next week in Broughton-in-Furness and Kendal to expand the reach of Voluntary Action Cumbria's Rural Futures Scheme.

The project set-up in the wake of foot-and-mouth - is charged with generating a vibrant rural economy. It comprises a team of co-ordinators who are all farmers to organise meetings, drum up speakers and plan trips to view different farming systems.

Project member and farmer Harry Harper said the project was about farmers getting together to co-operate, collaborate, share ideas and open up about facts and figures all things Cumbrian farmers are not exactly renowned for.

"We are facing major changes in Cumbrian agriculture, there is a new dawn of non-production subsidies and the clock is ticking, six months and counting. Some view this as a window of opportunity while others see the final nail being hammered into the coffin.

"There's one certainty if we take the latter view we'll end up in our dottage sitting around some half-stocked auction ring, probably the only one left in Cumbria, twittering on about the good old days.

"The way I see it we've got no choice, we must view this as an opportunity. If we want Cumbria agriculture to move forward we've got to get our act together sharpish."

South Lakeland meetings for Rural Futures are taking place at 7.30pm at The High Cross, Broughton, on Tuesday July 27 and at the Crooklands Hotel, Crooklands, Kendal on Thursday, July 29.