THE recession will not damage farmers in the region, the new local chairman of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) has said.

Alex Godfrey, who was elected as the new chairman of the North Lincolnshire branch of the union at the annual meeting on Monday night, is an arable and pig farmer.

He said one of the key issues for local growers is the tough and expensive EU regulations over how farmers do their jobs but he explained the recession is not a serious worry.

"Other people have it much worse than we do, so I don't really want to complain about the recession," he said.

"Farming has essentially been in recession for 10 years anyway, but we're well placed to come out [of what is happening now] stronger.

"Farmers are a positive bunch of people, and the industry is resourceful, we will look to help the whole country through the recession."

Fellow farmer Chris Moore said he shared Mr Godfrey's views on pulling through the tough economic times.

"It's true about when the going gets tough the tough get going– for the past 10 years we've been facing a recession and we've cut our cloth accordingly," he said.

"Unlike the banks we haven't been taking bonuses, and spending ridiculous amounts of money, we're careful and other businesses can learn from that."

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