28 Days/ Langtoon Auction Mart

Longtown (or Langtoon if you're local) auction mart is one of the busiest in Cumbria, although much of its trade comes from over the border in Scotland. Auction marts are fascinating places and you can always have a good craic with the locals. They are the meeting place for the local farming community and the nearest thing we have to a far eastern bazaar.
They also have great cafes !
All the farmers tell the same story. Rising costs whilst the price paid for their produce is kept low by the power of the supermarkets. I used to sell sheep at Kendal mart and I can remember times when there were just 2 buyers there, representing large supermarket chains. We need to sort this one out and my colleague Tim Farron (Lib Dem DEFRA spokesman) is looking at proposals to tackle the issue.
Talking to farmers at the mart, I got the impression that they no longer see the Tory party as the party that understands farming. Tim has done a great job in Westmorland and Lib Dems are becoming recognised as the country party whilst the Labservatives are increasingly seen as representing the Islington set.