Farming’s a tough industry, full of tough people. You have to be to cope with the ups and downs. Feed wheat at £130/t and foot and mouth, in the same week! Drought stricken crops in April and a deluge in July! Most people would simply give up.
But the great thing about farming is that tough people grapple with tough times and succeed. The only worry is that tough people are getting worn down by people who seem to lack commitment, who have jobs that are 9-5, who invest no personal equity in their occupations. All too often they seem to clash horrifically with the enthusiasts who invest everything in doing the job properly.
Maybe that helps explain the frustration welling up in farmhouses across the land, as the inability of government agencies.......
...... to co-ordinate their activities and operate to an acceptable standard becomes increasingly obvious.
Who hasn’t felt they could run DEFRA, IAH or the RPA more effectively? Who hasn’t questioned the inability of government inspectors to ensure pathogen laboratories are adequately biosecure? Who hasn’t wanted to scream when politicians provide platitudes instead of decisive action?
The frustration is understandable. But it also puts a very big onus on farmers and farming. The industry must be tough with itself and that means demonstrating its own total commitment to biosecurity. To do anything else would be to demonstrate the very lack of commitment that so often so exasperates farmers.
Comments (1)
Biosecurity advice is all very well, late as it is coming from DEfra. But what about common grazing - like sheep in the Forest of Dean? What's being done to protect their biosecurity. They were all killed out in 2001 as i recall and replacements are only just gaining hefted capabilities. I bet it'd be the end of lamb producers in the area if they lost flocks agaibn.
Comment left on August 9, 2007 11:21 AM
Posted on August 9, 2007 11:21