CHURCH and chapel have always been closely linked to rural communities and even today, as we seem to turn away from religious traditions, that bond remains.

In the past, the tithe system ensured a degree of co-operation as farmers of glebe land had to pay a proportion of their income to the Church. This arrangement was protected by law but, in time, it became less connected and resentment, especially in times of recession, crept in and it was repealed.

That did not, however, destroy the empathy between the rural folk and their church. The original political divisions between chapel and church disappeared after the Second World War and today the various denominations stand more or less united.

During foot-and-mouth this came very much to the fore. Church leaders came forward as emotional cushions and caring counsellors to those whose lives had been turned upside down. The Rural Stress Network was set up and, as farming moves into the biggest revolution in agricultural history, it will play a vital part as the consequences of the new regime start to grind out of existence families who thought they would farm for ever.

This commercial stress will touch hundreds of family farms over the next decade, but that is not all. In parallel comes social change. Politicians, in reality representing a tiny number of the population, are intent on stopping hunting. As they see it, putting an end to toffs in fancy dress riding mindlessly across the countryside. Conservation considerations feature not in their thinking; heritage goes out of the window and they have no understanding of the damage they will do to rural communities who rely on the hunt for much of their enjoyment.

Certainly few people realise the strong links between hunting and the church through the complex structure of the rural community. Across the North of England we still have Conformist, Non-conformist and Roman Catholic churchmen who take part in and enjoy hunting and all that surrounds it.

Over the very successful Masham Sheep Fair weekend, the Methodist chapel took as its theme for the harvest thanksgiving: "Let the land produce", an apt declaration to our legislators that the world faces famine in 40 years, which suggests that the short-term politics of today cannot be allowed to ruin tomorrow.

The Church of England, through its Commissioners, holds thousands of acres of prime agricultural land. Other denominations hold land as a safe investment. To be a church farm tenant is to be very much a part of the diocese, with bishops' lunches and cathedral services.

Then there is the ARC Addington Fund, set up by the churches and other generous organisations in response to the foot-and-mouth crisis. It exists to ease the problems of those who must quit farming life for ever but who are in no position to remain within their community.

The popular image of the farmer is of an oversubsidised, rosy-faced individual who lives off the fat of the land without a care in the world. This is far from the case and, as we move into this agricultural revolution starting on January 1, many farming families will face stark decisions. The big problems will occur in the tenanted sector as the land and the business of farming are separate and it was this very situation that the Archbishop of Canterbury anticipated in setting up Addington.

Subsidies are to be replaced by a compensatory payment over seven years which, on the vast majority of upland livestock farms, will amount to about £60/acre. The production of beef and sheep on many of these farms will become unsustainable, especially on the typical 250-acre unit which has been supporting an entire family. The family can take the £15,000 and not farm, but will have to act as park-keepers to maintain the look of the place. They will, in many cases, take the payment off the farm and sell up. Their stock and equipment is worth about £125, 000, from which will have to be deducted any borrowings.

Any of us working in the family farming community know the problems are legion and many families will, oh-so-reluctantly, turn their backs on a family heritage of generations. They do not have the capital to buy a house in their home area and that is where Addington comes in. Its role is to help in buying of that home within the parish where the family has been born and buried for a long time.

The tenanted sector is now down to about 35pc from the 80pc of the early twentieth century, owing to the number of farmers who were able to buy their farm when taxation and depression conspired against many of the large estates. If the 250-acre family had been able to buy the freehold, they would now be worth about £1.5m. C'est la vie?

The similarity between churches and farming is that both are suffering from falling numbers and incomes as operating costs rise ever more steeply.

There is a strong case for going to extreme lengths to stop the legislation which will close the door on much that has held these very communities together for centuries. This is , in my opinion, the start of a complete breakdown of a unique, beautiful, productive and accommodating countryside. It will be a decade before environmentalists can reach decisions, by which time it will be too late for an about-turn.

At the Great Countryside March, the last marchers leaving the Embankment, carried a large banner which read: "Will the last farmer out turn out the lights and close the gate". Mark my words well in a decade's time