Mr Kendall told the conference, Dairy Farming and the Environment - What Lies Ahead, that the Government must recognise its responsibilities to agriculture and produce sensible regulation as well as designing policies that provide incentives to encourage farmers to rise to the environmental challenges they face.

He said: "Our work in developing this plan shows to Government the whole dairy industry is taking its responsibilities to look after the environment seriously. This conference is all about how we and various bodies who advise dairy farmers can help producers take on the challenges that lie ahead and reduce their environmental footprint.

"Responsibility is a two-way process and there needs to be a quid pro quo from Government.

"In return for our efforts in delivering change on farm, ministers must recognise their responsibilities to agriculture and the environment by setting a sensible regulatory framework that does not penalise those who are doing the right thing or blow our competitiveness out of the water. Dairy farmers in England are already at an immediate disadvantage to dairy farmers elsewhere in the UK and many other parts of the EU due to the way the SPS has been implemented here.

"On top of that, we face a modulation rate of 19% in 2009 compared to 15% in Northern Ireland, 14% in Scotland and five per cent in the Netherlands."

Source: ic Teesside.co.uk