An aid package, estimated to be worth £12.5m, has been announced by the Government in an aim help livestock farmers recover from the foot and mouth and bluetongue disease outbreaks.
Speaking yesterday (8 October) secretary of state for environment Hilary Benn said: "This outbreak of foot and mouth disease has been a tremendous blow to farming, especially as it has happened at the time of year when the majority of livestock farmers need to move their animals to generate income.
"The impact of this outbreak on the farming community has been significant and we have listened to the views of the industry in taking these and other steps to alleviate the economic and welfare pressures they face."
The package includes:
- £8.5m of assistance to hill farmers. This one-off payment will be paid directly to them using the system already in place for the Hill Farm Allowance, and will be equivalent to just over 30% of their 2007 payment;
- An increase in the level of subsidy for the Fallen Stock Scheme for farmers in the foot and mouth disease Risk Area from 10% to 100%. This will not only apply to existing members of the scheme but will be available to all livestock keepers in the Risk area. It will apply to stock which have had to be killed on farm for welfare or other reasons;
- A contribution of £1m to the Arthur Rank Centre for disbursement to Farming Help charities;
- £2m for promotion and marketing of lamb, beef and pork both domestically and in export markets.
In a bid to relieve some of the burden of red tape on farmers, Mr Benn also outlined measures which will ease a number of regulatory requirements, including:
- Postpone animal transport certificates of competence from January to April;
- Seek derogation from 170kg of nitrogen per hectare loading limit for grassland farms under NVZs;
- Delay closure of NVZ consultation by one month;
- Breaches of cross-compliance caused by foot and mouth and bluetongue will not be enforced;
- Agreement at EU-level on 3rd October to raise the age at which vertebral column of cattle is considered Specified Risk Material from 24 to 30 months and which will facilitate the sale from butchers of beef from animals in this age bracket;
- Encouraging the public sector to increase opportunities for small and local producers to tender for public sector business.
The NFU has warned that £12.5m "falls far short" of the losses of more than £100m the industry has sustained to date.
NFU president Peter Kendall said: "The measures announced by Government are a whole lot better than nothing and the assistance for hill farmers will be particularly welcome."
"But, to be blunt, the package will make good only a fraction of the enormous financial damage caused by the release of foot and mouth from the Pirbright facility and the fact remains that there are tens of thousands of livestock farmers whose incomes have taken a heavy battering, and for whom this package offers little or nothing in the way of direct financial support."
Farmers’ initial verdict on the package is that it doesn’t do much to help producers who aren’t in the hills but are locked down by movement restrictions. Join the discussion and see what others are saying in the discussion forums.