Bird flu compensation processes must be improved during a "critical time" for Norfolk's virus-hit poultry farms, an industry leader has warned.
National Farmers' Union vice president David Exwood spoke at the Norfolk NFU branch's annual meeting at Easton College.
Mr Exwood, who farms in Sussex, said it was "always an honour" to visit Norfolk, a county where he spent the first six years of his life, sparking his love of farming while growing up in an RAF family.
But the county is currently at the epicentre of the nation's worst-ever bird flu outbreak, with more than 40 cases confirmed in October, resulting in the culling of hundreds of thousands of commercial birds.
Mr Exwood said this is "causing real heartache and pain to the poultry industry", and urged the government to speed up compensation valuations.
Last week, farming minister Mark Spencer announced a support package which included paying farmers compensation earlier - from the outset of planned culling rather than at the end - to "provide greater financial certainty" and "help stem any cash flow pressures".
But Mr Exwood said this did not go far enough.
"The crucial difficulty is that, yes, we get a quick response from the APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency) - they come to the farm quickly, identify the disease quickly, but then there is a big lag in the time for the birds to be culled and the compensation valuation is done the day before the cull. That gap is what is causing the problem.
"I don't believe the legislation, when it was drafted, was designed to leave that gap and leave people out of pocket.
"But we absolutely need to sort out that gap so at least people are treated fairly. Because if we don't do that, who is going to re-stock?
"Why would you re-stock your [poultry] business at huge expense when you think the same thing could happen in three months' time, and you could go through all the same challenges? This is a critical time for the poultry industry."
The call for faster compensation was echoed in parliament on Wednesday by Broadland MP Jerome Mayhew, who asked for payments to be brought forward to when disease is confirmed to avoid delays causing "significant losses" to farms.
Mr Exwood also highlighted the "extraordinary" political turmoil of recent months, and said the new ministerial team at Defra, led by environment secretary Thérèse Coffey, must "understand their briefs quickly, start taking decisions, and get on with it."
Mr Exwood said the top priority for ministers must be to "work food security, and the value of food production, back into Defra policy".
He said: "We have had a lot of focus on the environment, and that is absolutely fine, but they have to get that balance right," he said.
In particular, he said this applies to the government's flagship Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes - a three-tiered system of green incentives aimed at replacing the EU's land-based subsidies, which are being phased out after Brexit.
A review of these schemes was launched during Liz Truss' brief time in Downing Street, and Mr Exwood said there were two crucial industry demands for the entry-level sustainable farming incentive (SFI) - that it must engage 70pc of farmers, and use 65pc of the overall budget.
"The majority of the budget, and the majority of farmers, must be in the policy based around food production," he said. "If farmers don't engage with SFI, the danger is the budget will go elsewhere."
The meeting was chaired by Norfolk NFU chairman Jamie Lockhart, who outlined the raft of challenges faced by the county's farmers.
As well as an unprecedented bird flu epidemic, they included labour shortages, drought and loss of water abstraction licences, and the soaring costs of fuel, fertilisers and animal feed - which has had a particularly severe impact on the pig sector.
Mr Lockhart was chairing his final county meeting before his two-year term as Norfolk NFU chairman ends in February.
He said he had been "privileged" to represent the county's farmers, and will be "delighted" to hand over the chairmanship to Tim Papworth, who was elected after being the sole nominee for the role.
Mr Papworth, whose family's farm business is based at Felmingham, near North Walsham, is also the president of Norfolk's Young Farmers' Clubs.
He said a key priority for his tenure will be to engage the next generation of young people, to encourage them into the industry.
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