Archive Article: 2000/10/20

20 October 2000

Fat-freedom must be the milk slogan

There is no doubt that the White Stuff campaign is drawing attention to milk and it is right that producer money should be invested in the promotion of our excellent product. But when are we going to understand that fat content is the big issue?

One of the current White Stuff ads focuses on fat for its main sales pitch. "Milk has just 4% fat" it says. Kelloggs is running a series of ads supporting its cereal range, concurrent with the White Stuff campaign. The main message is that Kelloggs cereals are 95% fat-free.

It is simply about perception. The market leaders in the cereals business do not tell their customers that there is 5% fat in your breakfast bowl. They know that when it comes to marketing messages, fat content is a customer negative and fat-free is a customer positive.

Even the fullest cream milk that the customer is likely to buy is 96% fat free. That is a powerful message and the one we should be ramming home. After all, who would have thought that, by pouring milk on your cornflakes you actually make the finished meal even more fat-free!

Richard Ashworth

United Milk, Yarnbury Court, Ballington Manor, Wylye, Warminster.

Lets all switch to biodiesel

I write regarding the letter (Oct 6) on biofuels. Biodiesel is a wonderful fuel. It is easy to make from oil-producing plants and waste/used vegetable cooking oil. Farmers should start a co-op to grow oilseeds and produce this fuel in vast amounts.

Biodiesel, when added to the fuel tank, can be mixed with petroleum diesel without difficulty. That is because the compression ignition engine requires no adjustment to run efficiently.

Biodiesel is non-toxic and biodegradable and will not ignite readily. It contains less energy than petroleum, but that would go unnoticed by the average motorist. Biodiesel has better lubricating properties than petroleum diesel and is free of lead and sulphur dioxide, and has reduced particulates, unburned hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide.

Also, the use of biodiesel will not increase carbon dioxide levels. Although there are many manufacturers in the USA and on the Continent producing biodiesel, I know of only one in the UK, based in Cheshire, who sells it in a minimum order of 1000 litres.

Our biggest drawback is our government. It will not promote the use of alternative fuels by reducing the excise duty on them. It realises these fuels are better for the air we breathe, but it wants our money in tax. Lets use biodiesel and put no more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Jeremy Kent

Hardwick Bank Cottage, Lower Hardwick Lane, Bromyard, Herefordshire.

Join us and boost biofuels

Richard Kellett is right (Letters, Oct 6). The British Association for Biofuels and Oils is working hard, and we think effectively, behind the scenes. We aim to get the same tax rate for biofuels as has already been given to LP and CN gases as road fuels. That is about 10p/litre. We have a cast-iron case. Join BABFO and help the cause. These things cannot be done for nothing.

Peter Clery

Chairman, BABFO, Curlew Court, Sutton Bridge, Lincs.

High fuel prices are needed

I do not understand the argument that our fuel taxes are greedy. Petrol and diesel are destroying our planet. We have no alternative but to find safe fuels for our vehicles. Meanwhile, we must encourage thrift and discourage unnecessary use. The best way to do that is through price.

You correctly point out that fuel prices in other countries are lower than in the UK (Opinion, Sept 22). But you fail to mention that people in these countries pay 100% more income tax. Basic rates are between 40 and 45%. Successive Conservative and Labour governments have shifted taxes from direct to indirect. That is what we the voters asked for. We cannot now begin to complain.

West Yorks producer

Name and address supplied.

Oliver cant shift blame

I am sure Oliver Walston is correct in thinking that he is not important enough to have been responsible for preventing agrimonetary compensation being paid to arable farmers.

However, through the medium of television, with its immediate communication to millions of our population, he has appealed to the worst sort of politically envious attitudes that so many of us are trying to address. And he has inevitably reinforced the already entrenched opinion that all this countrys farmers are as smugly self-satisfied, arrogant and as apparently prosperous as he.

Since we, as an industry, are dependent on the goodwill of our customers, I hold him personally responsible for any continuing prejudice against us, which, in turn, undermines any just case we might have. Surely, he must have the wit to realise that the public does not differentiate between the large land-owning arable farmer and the small tenant farmer on marginal land?

Also without public opinion on our side it is all too easy for unsympathetic politicians to impose harsh and biased decisions on our industry with impunity.

While we have friends such as Oliver, we dont need enemies.

Howard Gilbert

Osprey Drive, Daventry, Northampton.

Pig industry left to die

It was good to hear that Asda and Safeway recognise the plight of the dairy industry and realise they must support it in the short term in order for it to have a long-term future. What a pity they could not react similarly when pig businesses were in their death throes last year.

It seems unlikely that the government will take action about their profiteering and pricing policy either, even though the Competition Commission found evidence of goods being sold at less than the cost of production. But then the government does not care about the pig industry. That was shown by its refusal to pay full compensation to desperate farmers with pigs caught up in restricted zones in the swine fever epidemic.

Apparently, pig and poultry businesses will be classed as industrial and from 2001 have a climate change levy imposed on their energy costs. On top of that, they will have to join the integrated pollution policy control scheme. An initial joining fee of £12,000 has been suggested, plus a subsequent annual fee of £6,000. Also, there are the costs of getting slurry stores and muck heaps up to standard.

Does anyone want a pig (or poultry) industry in this country? It almost seems there is a hidden agenda to get rid of it, because some foreign governments are going to pay the IPPC costs.

Brian Chattey

Langford Court North, Cullompton, Devon.

Ignore us at your peril

National media reporting of the farmers protest at Brighton was inaccurate. Reported as being a protest about fuel prices or the Countryside Alliance, farmers were lumped in with the pro-fox hunting brigade and described by John Prescott as "the contorted faces in tweed jackets".

Farmers from every sector and every farming union joined together to impress on the government that the industry was still in crisis. Also, that almost every product farmers sold was making a loss because of the strong £ and cheaper imports. The message was put across that British farmers are disadvantaged compared with Europeans through higher costs and endless red tape. No one in government seems to be listening or cares that 18,000 farming jobs went last year.

As the tractor convoy headed to the conference, the support from the public, lorry drivers, pensioners and others was tremendous.

For a government that claims to listen, not one politician came to talk to us. For one government minister to call farmers "subsidy junkies" outraged many present when all farmers want is the right to receive decent prices. The demands of farmers were presented to the press and farm minister Nick Brown, but nowhere did those demands come to light in the media.

Farmers demand that the government ensures fair farm gate prices and appoint a supermarket ombudsman to ensure major retailers cannot drive down prices below production costs. The government must accept that its welfare codes for the care of livestock increase farm costs and disadvantage UK farmers.

British produce competes with other countries that have welfare codes inferior to our own, which allows them to undercut our prices. The same stringent food safety standards disadvantage the UK when our European counterparts interpret EU directives flexibly.

There is now so much red tape involved in every aspect of farming that it is a disincentive for anyone to enter the industry.

Unless the government supports its farmers, the UK will have to become dependent upon food imports where high quality and standards cannot be assured.

Listen and act, Mr Blair, or the peasants John Prescott defiles may well become the revolting peasants to bring down your government.

Bob Dearnley

Burpham Court Farm, Clay Lane, Jacobs Well, Guildford.

Strobs brought wheat surplus

We are told by BASF and Produce Studies that strobs increased yields by 0.59t/ha and that they were used on 41% of the crop (Arable, Oct 6).

Is that why wheat is worth only £60/t?

If those figures are correct, then strobs increased our national wheat surplus by 0.5m tonnes and presumably reduced the price by a significant amount.

It takes only a £4/t price reduction to wipe out the £31/ha extra margin claimed for the use of strobs.

I dont know about the rest of your readers, but I feel like the poor little hamster turning the wheel of the treadmill and looking very pleased with itself.

M G Jackson

Crosshill Farm, Laxton, Newark.

RSPCA works for pig welfare

The reported response to the RSPCAs campaign on European pig welfare, "RSPCA rebuked over proposals for pig welfare", (News, Sept 29) was disappointing. For the past three years, the society has worked alongside the UK pig industry to highlight to government, retailers, caterers and the public the issues of inconsistent welfare standards across Europe, cheap imports from less humane systems, and inadequate labelling.

The campaign aims to secure changes to EU legislation that will affect pig farming in all EU countries, and lead to the level playing field so often called for by the UK industry. The launch has been timed to influence commission proposals on changing the law, and is part of a Europe-wide initiative co-ordinated by Eurogroup for Animal Welfare.

The proposed changes are in line both with recommendations made in the 1997 EU Scientific and Veterinary Committees report on the welfare of pigs, and with the RSPCAs welfare standards for pigs already being achieved by many UK producers.

Last February, the UK pig industry, represented by the MLC, sent a letter jointly with the Danish, Dutch and Swedish industries and Eurogroup, to the European commissioner for health and consumer protection. The letter urged the commission to keep its commitment to devise a proposal on the basis of the Scientific and Veterinary Committee report in 1997. This call by pig industries agrees with the RSPCAs campaign objectives.

Although the society is pushing for a ban on castration, it is not calling for tail docking and tooth clipping to be prohibited, but permitted only under veterinary advice.

The RSPCA has funded much research into alternatives to farrowing crates. It believes that the Cambac study will be a useful addition to the existing information pool on alternatives. However, in some countries, including the UK, producers are already using alternatives with performance results on piglet survival and growth and sow health comparable to, or better than, conventional crate systems.

Dr Julia Wrathall

Deputy head, Farm Animals Dept, RSPCA, Horsham, West Sussex.

Farmers market aids community

Further to the photograph showing Rolvenden Farmers Line, a charity for adults with learning difficulties (News, Oct 6), I would like to elaborate on the scope of our weekly farmers market.

A dairy farmer sells a range of milk, cream, yoghurt and fudge. She has joined forces with a smallholder producing goats cheese and they now produce an excellent range of goat and cow cheese in a symbiosis that epitomises our market culture of self-help.

A local farmer has cricket bat willows which require trimming. That is done by young people with learning difficulties and the off cuts are made into wigwams, trellis and hurdles. Our cake makers cakes sell like hot cakes and there are many other examples.

Rolvenden has a population of only 1200 and the market was started by the community for the community.

A table costs £2 per market to cover insurance and membership of the Farmers Market Association. To date, the market has received no grants or financial assistance.

Ours is a small village but the market is a success for over 20 producers, large and small, with wider benefits to the economy of the local area.

Susan Saggers

Rolvenden Farmers Line, Lowden Manor, Rolvenden Lane, Cranbrook, Kent.

Dont be eager about beavers

I read that there is a proposal to introduce beavers into Scotland. Such an idea is little short of lunacy.

A number of these animals were introduced into the southern part of Patagonia in the early 1900s.

First, because the winters there are not as severe as in Canada, the pelts were not up to standard. Second, from the original stock, a population of 10,000 has arisen to cause untold damage to forestry and wildlife.

Frank Homfray

Llwynhelig, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan.

OPs – the truth must be told

Your reports (News, Oct 6 and FWi) on the impending failure of the OP group action raise important issues. FWi suggests the judge must be 99.9% certain that OPs caused the symptoms. That is incorrect. Civil damages claims are determined on the balance of probabilities, which requires only 51% certainty on grounds that the damage done was more likely than not to have been caused by the exposure.

Chemical spokesman Roger Cooks reported claim that OPs do not cause neurological damage must not go unchallenged. OP-induced delayed neuropathy has been known since 1899 and thousands of cases are recognised by the authorities.

It is suggested that there is "insufficient scientific knowledge" to proceed with the claims. That too is untrue. There have been successful claims in this country and abroad and it is clear that there is ample scientific knowledge.

But there is a shortage of honest experts who are prepared to put their careers on the line by supporting the poisoned individuals. If the OP group action has been defeated, there must be an investigation into the actions of all those who have caused that defeat.

If attempts to stop these cases succeed, none of us will be safe. We are seeing similar attempts to manipulate science in other important areas for human safety. If the forces behind this secrecy go unchecked, then the abuses of power will grow even greater. Eventually the survival of life as we know it will be impossible.

Richard Bruce

Hill Place Cottage, Thorley, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

NIAB lists are objective

Your report, "Independent group to oversee crop testing" (Arable, Sept 29) implies that the existing system for Recommended Lists, run by NIAB, is subject to commercial pressures and interests. Nothing could be further from the truth.

NIAB Council, which is the ultimate arbiter, has nominees from all sectors of the industry including the NFU, RASE, BSPB, UKASTA and NABIM. Council appoints the individual crop committees with the same cross-industry representation. It exists for the purpose of ensuring that British farmers have independent crop variety information and advice. For over 50 years, farmers and industry representatives have given and continue to give their time freely to make sure this is done.

The independence and validity of their decisions have been tested in the most objective way possible – by exposure to the market. Farmers continue to place their trust in recommended varieties year in, year out.

HGCA has been funding research for cereal and oilseeds Recommended Lists for the past eight years, and has decided to transfer control of the programme and decision-making to Crop Evaluation Ltd. CEL has been set up as a company free from commercial interests, and NIAB is pleased to be part of it. Farmers can be assured that NIAB has always fought for reliable and independent information, and will continue to do so.

Prof Brian J Legg

Director, National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge.