The English Farming and Food Partnerships body has been launched, aiming to boost profits and sustainability in farming.

Welcoming the news, the prime minister said that the EFFP could "play a crucial role in helping promote practical co-operation and collaboration across the industry".

Forum Response: Country Land and Business Association

A spokesman for the CLA told ePolitix.com: "The Country Land and Business Association very much welcomes the launch of English Farming and Food Partnerships.

"We look forward to working with the body and to more initiatives of this nature in the future."

Forum Response: Royal Agricultural Society

Richard Sanders, director of communications at the Royal Agricultural Society, told ePolitix.com: "The RASE is delighted that yet another product which saw its genesis in the Curry Commission report has come to fruition.

"If British agriculture is to compete properly within Europe and further afield it must cooperate or die."

Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

Richard Burge, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told ePolitix.com: "The Countryside Alliance is extremely supportive of this new body, which was one of the key recommendations of the Curry Report and has always appealed to the grassroots approach we favour.

"More support for co-operatives will increase the marketing and selling power of British farmers and help allow them to have more say in the prices they are paid for their produce.

"This will obviously produce benefits for the agricultural industry as a whole as well as the rural economies and communities which depend on farming. Our vision is for a sustainable future for the industry and empowering those most affected is a very positive step".

Forum Response: British Retail Consortium

Bill Moyes, director general of the British Retail Consortium, said: "The English Farming and Food Partnerships is a positive development for farming, food and related rural industries.

"Encouraging co-operation and partnership activities between farmers and the food chain should deliver greater stability in the sector, which is good for producers, processors, retailers and especially consumers.

"We welcome efforts to increase the competitiveness of the food chain and look forward to working with the EFFP to build a framework for a modern food democracy."