Peter Kendall commends Farmers Weekly’s coverage of TB in badgers

NFU president Peter Kendall has described this year as “the worst year in recent history” for TB in cattle.

Speaking yesterday (26 February) at the NFU’s Annual Conference he commended Farmers Weekly’s coverage of the plight faced by farmers who are dealing with the problem of badgers infecting cattle with TB. 

And he told the story of Fionagh Harding, a smallholder from Cornwall, whose letter was published in Farmers Weekly on 16 February.

Quoting directly from her letter, he said: “Badgers are not cute and cuddly, neither are cows docile and stupid.  I cannot understand why the British public wants to protect every badger, even when they are sick, and yet will happily see countless numbers of cattle, in whom farmers have an enormous financial and emotional investment, continue to be slaughtered because the cycle of infection is not being broken.”

“Action is long overdue,” Mr Kendall argued. “We must act now.”