PRIME Minister David Cameron promised to streamline the farm inspection process when he attended last week's Royal Welsh Show in Powys.

Under existing inspection regimes, he said a tangle of seven regulators carry out more than 125,000 farm inspections a year on England’s 250,000 farms.

But by summer 2016, he said farmers will only have to deal with one Single Farm Inspection Taskforce which will combine farm visits with mandatory checks.

It will also use the latest technology to streamline inspections, such as using satellites to analyse crops in fields.

He also announced plans to boost food and drink exports by more than £7 billion through new opportunities identified by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) to countries outside the EU.

These included India, Brazil and China – securing lamb exports to China alone could be worth£60 million. Use of the GREAT brand will also be increased to promote UK food and drink exports.

Mr Cameron said: "Farming and food production are a fundamental part of our rural economy. As a one nation government, we will keep on backing British farmers to grow and sell more home-grown food by liberating them from red tape and opening up new multi-million pound export markets."

The government is also committed to increasing Protected Food Names from 63 to 200 – with Carmarthen Ham and Welsh Laverbread expected to be confirmed later this summer. The total value of UK Protected Food Names is estimated to be more than £900 million.

A new UK-wide Food Innovation Network will also give more than 8,000 small and medium-sized food and drink businesses greater access to existing world-leading technology and science, helping them innovate and grow.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said the UK food and farming industry is worth more than £100 billion a year and supports one in eight jobs. "Removing barriers to growth will help these figures rise meaning more jobs and more investment in rural communities," she said.

Meurig Raymond, NFU president, welcomed the prospect of a simplified regulatory regime. "At a time when commodity prices have plummeted, delivering reduced administration hurdles must also equate to reduced costs for farm businesses," he said.

"The NFU shares the Government’s ambition to develop a 25-year plan and develop a profitable, productive and sustainable food and farming sector with good access to research, science and technology."