At least one of the pilot areas in the badger cull should be in Devon, insisted farmer and bovine TB specialist Bill Harper.

The decision on the badger cull pilot areas has come as "an enormous relief" to Westcountry farmers deeply involved in the campaign to stamp out bovine TB.

Mr Harper, chairman of the National Beef Association's TB committee, stressed: "We're not at the top of the ladder, but we're getting nearer with every step. At least one of the two pilot areas should be in Devon, because this is where it all started. It was four groups of farmers who provided evidence to Ministers, and it's thanks to them that we've got this far. But there's still a long way to go, with very many issues to be resolved, before we can start."

Mr Harper, who farms near Holsworthy, added: "Although it's going to put tremendous pressure on the farmers involved, I think it will work, and when the full scheme is rolled out in 2013 it will really start to have an effect on reducing the dreadful TB problem.

"There has never been an issue that has united all the farming organisations in the way that this has."

National Farmers' Union Regional Director Mel Squires said the plan was another massive step forward in achieving the end goal of a healthy countryside – both for badgers and for cattle.

She said: "We must tackle this terrible disease, that sees tens of thousands of cattle destroyed each and every year. The most recent science shows badger controls are absolutely necessary, together with cattle controls, to get on top of TB. No other country in the world has successfully tackled this devastating disease without first addressing the reservoir of TB in the wildlife.

"But this has never been about eradicating badgers – this is about eradicating disease. And there are some serious challenges ahead. This has never been, and will not be a quick fix, and we're fully prepared for that."

Bovine TB would cost England more than £1 billion over the next decade, with hundreds of thousands of cattle dying needlessly, if nothing was done, said Country Land and Business Association South West Director, John Mortimer. He said: "We back a controlled cull, carried out by farmers and landowners, as part of a science-led, well-managed and sustained TB-control policy. Badger culling, testing, cattle movement control and removal and slaughter of infected animals are all essential tools to tackle the disease."

Agricultural vets also welcomed the news. Andrew Praill, President of the British Cattle Veterinary Association, commented: "Any intervention in bovine TB takes time to show an effect due to the chronic nature of the disease, and we need all the tools in the box at our disposal. That is why we are giving our full support to the pilots. Doing nothing is not an option."

For the Tenant Farmers' Association, with 500 members in the South West, chairman Jeremy Walker said: "Control measures to date have focused solely on cattle and it is right that such measures should now be extended to the badger population. We want to reach a situation where we have healthy cattle and healthy badgers co-existing."