Sir, - The small farmer is dying, his livelihood smashed by the subsidy system. We weep crocodile tears over the insidious decline of our rural landscape, our flora and fauna, yet to most people it is merely an interruption to their gaderene rush to golden oblivion.
The countryside has to be managed, as it always has been managed, by the communities that live in it. Particularly in the west, that means the small farmer. Just as important is our cultural heritage, based as it is on a rural inheritance that permeates most of our society.
We jettison the small farmer at our peril, and the loss, in this age of conformity, of our uniqueness. The conserver must be conserved. - Yours, etc.,
Johnny Couchman, Johnstown House, Carlow.