Radical changes are needed if farmers are to adopt government proposals for a badger cull to combat bovine tuberculosis, a senior NFU adviser has warned.
With the end of a government consultation little more than a week away, farm leaders are anxious to ensure that detailed arrangements for a cull next year are workable, said NFU media strategist Anthony Gibson.
"If they are not, then nobody is going to go in for it," he told Farmers Weekly. "That is the immediate priority - to get the proposals changed so they are actually workable for the farmers who are going to do the culling."
Mr Gibson's comments will be welcomed by livestock producers who fear that current proposals requiring farmers to sign up to a four-year cull with few government guarantees are tantamount to writing a blank cheque to DEFRA.
"They need radical or significant improvement," he said. "On the face of it, the government seems to be loading far too much risk and far too much cost on to the farming community and not taking enough responsibility itself.
A former NFU communications director, Mr Gibson has been recalled by the union to work on its media strategy for a series of controversial issues including bovine TB, CAP reform and milk prices. He took up his new role on Tuesday (6 September).
"I have not returned as director of communications. The aim of my new role is to make sure the NFU's messages are properly attuned to its various audiences - whether consumers, politicians, opinion formers or members themselves."
Mr Gibson retired from the NFU in May 2008 after a career spanning 36 years, much of it in south-west England. He served as NFU South West regional director for 14 years from 1992 to 2006, before spending two years as director of communications.
Best known for championing farmers during the BSE crisis and the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak, he was awarded an OBE in 2003. Since leaving the NFU, he has written two well-received books and a column for the Western Morning News.
The NFU has found it difficult to find a permanent communications director since Liz Falkingham resigned for personal reasons in 2010. Her successor, former Coca-Cola vice-president Erika Coghlan, left the NFU this summer after less than six months.