Prince Charles: 'Not enough help for small farmers'

Not enough is being done to help small farmers to stay in business, the Prince of Wales has said.

Speaking on a trip to Romania, Prince Charles said smallholders were "crucial" to the future of food security, while too many agribusinesses were "not interested in biodiversity".

In the interview for BBC Radio 4's On Your Farm programme, he urged a revival of traditional farming methods.

The prince was in Transylvania to set up a scheme to help rural communities.

He has been a regular visitor to the region since 1998, and owns two holiday houses there which he rents to tourists.

'Totally vulnerable'

Remote farming communities in the area - which still use horse-drawn carts and scythe hay by hand - are "where we see true sustainability and complete resilience", he told BBC rural affairs reporter Charlotte Smith.

"I happen to think the small farmer, the smallholder, is absolutely crucial to the maintenance of food security," he said.

Rural farming communities in Transylvania still harvest hay by hand and use horse-drawn carts

"It can't all be done by gigantic corporations, agribusinesses. Some of them try, but a lot of them are not interested in biodiversity or culture or rural communities.

"We witnessed in the UK the depopulation of the countryside, the disappearance of so many family farms, the effect it's had on the countryside, the wildlife, everything."

He warned that a global warming could have serious implications on food production, and leave humankind "totally vulnerable".

Scything judge

He added that becoming a grandfather had pushed him to want to do more to protect the environment.

"That's entirely why I'm trying to do all this, is that I mind about the future for your grandchildren as well as mine and lots of other people's," he said.

The prince has launched a village cooperative in Transylvania, that will aim to teach craft skills and encourage people to market their home-grown and handmade products.

As part of his visit, Prince Charles judged a village scything competition, and said the technique was an example of traditional farming methods that could help protect biodiversity, such as wildflower species.

He acknowledged that some might think he was "not living in the real world", but argued that scything could be used more widely in farming "if people are keen enough to do it".

Scything attracted a lot of interest when it featured on BBC drama Poldark.

Two Royal Special episodes of On Your Farm, featuring Charlotte Smith's full interview with Prince Charles, will be on BBC Radio 4 on 9 August and 16 August and at 06:30 BST.