Archive Article: 2001/02/08
8 February 2001
Transport offered:
OXFORDSHIRE – A coach will be running from the south of the county, covering Sonning Common, Kidmore End, Peppard and Henley-on-Thames; fare 9.50. Contact Julian on 01491 629582 or email julian_grant@trimble.com
Rail travel from WOLVERHAMPTON – I cant offer a lift, but Virgin Trains is offering a good deal from Wolverhampton (which has a large car park) – 14 return fare. Train leaves 08.15 and arrives Euston 10.53. It
would be a nice atmosphere if we could fill a carriage or two! Book with Virgin trains on 08457 222333 – Vicky Cooper – vcooper@btinternet.com
MOLE VALLEY – Mole Valley Farmers is organising buses from each of its shop sites; fare 10 per person. Contact local branches for details by phone or email mvf@molevalleyfarmers.com
LANCASHIRE – There are spaces on a coach planned from the Fylde area. One
pick-up at Singleton planned. Cost, dependent on numbers, will be less than 20. Contact Tom – teap6@aol.com
NORTH YORKSHIRE – A coach will run from Wetherby to the march. Fare 16/head. Contact john.linda@farmersweekly.net
LINCOLNSHIRE – Les Gilbert has booked four coaches from Kirton, near Boston. Fare around 12/head, including London Underground travel. Contact Les Gilbert – lesgilbert@farmersweekly.net or mobile 0468 641 952
WARWICKSHIRE – Warwickshire NFU is organising coach travel to the march for interested members. If you need a lift from any part of the county, contact John Charles-Jones – jccj@farmline.com
Transport requested:
WILTSHIRE – Seats on a bus or coach are wanted from the Salisbury area – mwykeham@cs.com
STAFFORDSHIRE – Paula Chaston of Leek would like a lift to the march – www.paula@ask.co.uk
WORCESTERSHIRE – Rosemary Pritchard of Bickley, near Tenbury Wells, would like a lift to the march – qrancl156@aol.com
SURREY – Lift requested from the Farnham area – yardely@aol.com
CORNWALL – Ms Sam Bessette would like a lift from south-west Cornwall – sambessette@farmersweekly.net
CHESHIRE – Joshua Larcombe would like a lift from Chester – joshua.larcombe@tinyworld.co.uk
EAST LOTHIAN – Marcus Findlay of Dunbar would like transport for up to seven people – m.findlay@farmersweekly.net
Further offers and requests will appear here …
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Tony Blair a socialist?
He is not a socialist by the furthest stretch of the
Milk protest – plea from the front line Dairy farmers, cake reps and other salespersons attended to lend their support, and they know the dire straits the industry is in as well as us, the producers. Behaviour of all those present have, if I say so myself, have been impeccable.
Everyone present knows that without a substantial price increase for our milk, there wont be any future for any of us.
Without it, none of us will survive, including the dairy companies, as they wont have any milk to process unless they import it. Milk production has never been lower in recent history. They are importing milk for 23pplplus delivery; spot price is anywhere from 27p to 28ppl.
We feel this must justify our case for a increase now while there is still hope of a future in this industry. martin@shepherdsfarm.fsbusiness.co.uk
Ban suspect meat imports Banned specified material has been found in some batches. Now all sorts of people are running round saying what are we going to do. They suggest inspection of all the imported carcases for spinal chord before they are processed and called British! What utter nonesense. Imports from suspect countries should be banned immediately. Are the NFU urging the Minister to ban these imports? If not ,why not? This is not doing the domestic meat trade any good either; without proper labelling who knows where this foreign meat goes.
All imported meat should have a large country of origin flag on it, so there is some chance of the consumer being able to make a choice.
Scottish cow prices, 1990-3
Blair ignores farmers innovation He suggested that farm leaders press the UK government to use the Overseas Disaster Aid Fund to produce a supply british corned beef for food aid purposes – after all, a community suffering devastation needs clean water and food to avoid further misery. As many of us know, this fund is routinely abused by multinationals to dump unsold, unneeded and unwanted “healthcare” products in poor countries around the world. The farmers plan also involved a British Steel plant for the canning and,, of course, a British slaughterhouse, thus using the whole spectrum of British industry. He was told that the plan had no chance and some rightly or wrongly described it as crackpot. Now that the slaughterhouse in question has closed and the steel plant in question is also to close (and a number of farmers have gone out of business, too), was it really such a crackpot idea after all? Perhaps Im a cynic, but I believe that if the plan had originated from industry and not from a farmer, the labour government may have taken it more seriously.
There again, the governments inaction with the steel industry until it was patently too late, may show that they like steel workers nearly as little as they like farmers!
Hunt trespass The problem is, I suffer repeated trespass on to my land by my local hunt, who have been told to keep off. They seem to think its perfectly OK to accidently run hounds in and then apologise.
Hunting gets itself a bad name without anybody elses help. No, I wont be in London!
Hunting turns off farmings supporters This is not unusual in the industry; I know people who dont go on the march because they feel its for the good of the hunt, not the industry. An end to hunting of our own free will could only raise public opinion of farmers and help the industry gain support.
Brazilian beef Lets boycott all Princes products until they put British Beef into their corned-beef tins.
Hunting is bad PR
andrew@bondbros.freeserve.co.uk
Well said, Hilary
dicklindley@birkwood.fsbusiness.co.uk
Open letter to Tony Blair I am a 45-year-old farm secretary, with 25 years experience, living and working on the borders of England and Wales. My job is not shorthand and typing, it is all accounts work. Thus, with over 40 clients in both lowland and hill areas, I have a very good idea of just how the farming fraternity is managing – or should I say not managing. Many of my dairy clients have sold all their cows in the last 18 months; the cows are not worth any money, and thus along with thousands of others they are slaughtered. So now, with very few cows left in the country, we are faced with a shortage of milk and probably before long there will also be a shortage of beef cattle due to the slaughtering of all male calves, for which there is no market. I am an animal lover and it grieves me so to see the absolute carnage of all these animals, just to abide by rules inflicted upon us by our own government, with Europe still feeding meat and bone meal and with no respect for the over-30-month cattle being kept out of the food chain – in fact we even import it, just to help our European buddies.
Have any of our farmers set fire to a lorry-load of sheep? Who will keep down all the bracken and heather and brambles and out-of-control hedgerows? Will the town people, who insist on rambling everywhere as their God-given right, carry strimmers, flymos and secateurs with them? By eradicating the farming populace there will be a breakdown of rural communities along with all the environmental problems which will ensue – the rampant over-breeding of vermin (badgers are not nearly extinct, they are everywhere in the rural areas, sometimes to be found dead on the side of the road, and, have you ever seen what a fox will do to a chicken coup just for fun? Makes Hitler look like a pussycat).
Spend some time in the countryside and see what rural life is like as you and your higher echelons seem to be totally out of touch (we do not The old saying is true; If the Farmers arent doing well then nobody does. Agriculture touches on many other industries and as a result, many are also facing bankruptcy. Please just stop this persecution of British Agriculture, a small proportion of the electorate, but a large part of the country.
What does US farm policy do to you? I wont ask what is does for you because I assume that the answer is “nothing good”. I know that the farm economy is difficult in the UK, but most people would say that it is also difficult in the USA. Is there any worldwide solution to battles between exporting nations? Im willing to listen to negative comments – I can handle it.
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