THE countryside was being crippled by the demand for cheap food, according to Prince Charles who advocated the abandonment of the relentless pursuit of quantity to focus on quality when he opened the Royal Show this week.

Courage, vision and determination were needed to transform the ailing industry and farmers needed to work together with supermarkets, building a new relationship if farming was to have a future.

"It is utterly incredible to me that farming, the basic industry of mankind, can be in such a state of crisis as it is today," he said. "The consumer needs to be more aware that the seemingly endless desire for convenience and the lowest possible price has a direct impact, like it or not, on the producer."

He pointed out: "There is a real cost involved in cheap food, to the countryside, to those who live and work there and to animal welfare."

On the issue of town and countryside, Prince Charles said: "Despite the enormous goodwill and, indeed, generosity. Shown by so many urban dwellers to farmers during foot and mouth, there is a real gulf of understanding between those who live in the countryside and those who live in towns and cities.

"It is of the greatest importance that we find a way to bridge that gulf and open people's eyes to the fact that the countryside is only as beautiful as it is because of the care and management of generations of farmers."

In the show rings, dairy farmers Mike and Shan Miller, of Greville Hall Farm, Hinton-on-the-Green, Evesham, took a second prize with their Holstein heifer Cleevale Oprah. "We were pleased with her because there were a lot of good cattle there," Mrs Miller said.