Tynwald unanimously approved a £1.2m drought relief grant scheme for farmers - despite concerns that not all farmers want or need it.

Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot said farmers had been affected by the unusually wet spring following by the warmest and driest summer since 1976.

The wet spring meant farmers put livestock out to pasture later than usual and then the dry summer meant grass and other crops struggled to grow.

Crop and grass yields had reduced by a this to a half in some cases. ’The impact of the weather has been negative for all,’ he said.

The price of feed and bedding had tripled in some instances

But Lawrie Hooper (LibVan, Ramsey) said he had been contacted by a number of farmers very concerned about the relief scheme.

Mr Hooper said: ’I received a call from a farmer quite out of the blue. I was preparing myself for a fusillade of lobbying.

’But unexpectedly, they made clear they were not in favour of the scheme. It’s not very often that someone calls up and says they don’t want free money from government.

’Then I received another call and a few more after that. The message was universal. Not all farmers are in dire straights and not all need, or want, this exceptional support.’

Mr Hooper said farming needs government support but the system of support must be sustainable so that farmers are able to ’weather the bad years and enjoy the good ones’.

He said he did not think it fair of putting farmers in a position where they had to defend another tranche of taxpayers’ support which he said is only needed because the support currently on offer isn’t adequate.

The scheme will allow farmers to submit applications to DEFA for grants for their livestock, crops and vegetables.

Two separate grants for cattle, pigs and hens will be issued in November 2018 and March 2019 with the intention of encouraging farmers to retain the herds and flocks at close to normal levels.

A single grant will be issued for sheep, goats and vegetables in November 2018, and single grant for crops will be issued in March 2019.

This later payment will allow DEFA to reduce the grant if the market price for wheat crops, on which other crop prices are based, exceeds the average price for the previous financial year.

Middle MHK Bill Shimmins said it was a ’divisive topic’.

He suggested the award of grants should be based on farmers’ loyalty to the Meat Plant.

Kate Beecroft (LibVan, Douglas South) went further, calling for a ban on live exports for slaughter.