WENSLEYDALE should be used as a national test-bed for a fresh start in agriculture.

Mr David Butterworth, chief executive of the Yorkshire Dales national park authority, said it was ideally placed because of the work of the self-help group, Rejuvenate.

He told Yorkshire Forward's rural renaissance forum in Harrogate on Tuesday that farmers should also be rewarded for their key role in the success of rural tourism.

In Wensleydale, 130 farms had lost their livestock in the crisis and the impact on tourism had also been severe. It should be possible to start re-stocking the farms this autumn but, rather than reinstating them as they were, new ideas were emerging through the work of Rejuvenate.

These included local supply chains, with local abattoirs and outlets gaining a premium for high quality local products from a high quality environment, plus ideas for improving footpaths and other visitor facilities.

A fresh start initiative in the dale would refocus public funding to support the ideas, he said. "In short, it could create a rejuvenated 21st century Wensleydale."

The ideas matched UK government and European objectives.

"I believe these proposals can be used as test beds for a new approach to rural policy and can therefore assist the government in achieving its objectives for the next round of Common Agriculture Policy reform," said Mr Butterworth.

"If we wait for the great reforms to come out of CAP it will be too late for much of the regional agricultural economy and the communities that live and work in these areas."

Local communities must be involved in any proposed policy changes. "It must be remembered that government and its agencies exist to serve the community - not the other way round," he said. "If we ignore those communities, their hopes, aspirations, capabilities and the importance to them of the way they live, any future proposals are doomed to failure."

Countryside tourism was worth £12bn a year and supported 800,000 jobs. One in three visitors went walking or rambling. "The landscape they walk is managed by farmers and is contributing significantly to the success of the tourism industry," he said. He did not believe that farmers were sharing in that success and there was a growing acceptance that farmers' contributions should be rewarded.