A DIRECT call for farmers to be paid for land management has been made by the head of the Countryside Agency.

Mrs Sarah Sleet said society must recognise the vital role farmers played in providing the landscape it loved.

A new relationship between farmers and society would recognise the full benefits and responsibilities of multi-functional land management and reward farmers accordingly, Mrs Sleet, director of the Countryside Agency, told last week's Yorkshire Forward rural renaissance meeting in Harrogate.

"Society must be prepared to support long-term public funding for land managers in return for public benefits," she said.

Economic circumstances would prevent most farmers providing what the public expected simply as a by-product of their commercial activities.

The fragility and interdependence of farming and tourism had never been so apparent since foot-and-mouth struck - and farming must never again be treated in isolation, said Mrs Sleet. It must become part of a wider rural economy based in a well managed landscape with healthy communities.

More than 80pc of the English countryside was farmed.

"The landscape that attracts tourists, the foundation of our network of rights of way, and the core of many communities, especially in the remote rural areas, is grounded in farming, " she said.

It generated £8.2bn in food sales, and 15pc of all rural businesses were in agriculture or forestry.

Foot-and-mouth had been a terrible blow for many farmers and businesses. "Many will never recover," she said, "The epidemic has underlined as never before the interdependence and fragility of farming and tourism in rural economies."

Estimated costs of the crisis to the UK's gross domestic product ranged from £3bn to £9bn.

A total of 380,000 jobs depended on tourism and day trips to the countryside; the figure could be doubled when market towns, villages and seaside resorts were included.

In Yorkshire, foot-and-mouth saw domestic tourist visits down 15pc and the spend down 19pc, which was serious when 7pc of the workforce was in tourism.

National and regional agencies had to work in partnership to aid recovery.

"We need to reinvest in rural England if we are to turn a disaster into an opportunity," said Mrs Sleet. "We must invest in new approaches for agriculture; in rural economies through revitalised market towns; in our communities in our villages, and in tourism.

"Farming must contribute positively to the economy of rural areas, to the environment and to society."

A greater emphasis on produce grown and marketed locally was needed and a strengthening of the links between product, place and landscape. Consumers had to recognise the importance of sustainable agriculture and how they could make a difference through their purchasing decisions.

New crops and non-food crops for industry and renewable energy could provide opportunities.

The agency believes there must be a radical reform of the CAP. EU member states should be allowed to develop land management support measures tailored to meet the needs of their own communities.

An integrated rural development policy should replace CAP and this would gradually reduce production-linked support payments, with the savings switched to annual payments for environmental management and rural development.

l Prof Allan Buckwell of the Country Land and Business Association called for a full public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth crisis.

"There has to be a public inquiry, a full and serious public inquiry, it is not enough to say it is a matter of animal disease," he said. "The whole way this outbreak was handled needs examining; could it have been handled better, we need to know.

"A Europe-wide inquiry should also be held to look at control methods; whether we should continue to slaughter or have a vaccination programme."