Archive Article: 2001/02/23
Decimal Day went without a major hitch at livestock markets, with many auctioneers reporting a speed-up in business as a result of dealing in the new currency. "A piece of cake," was the comment on D-Day from Gloucester mart.
Money worries were troubling many farmers as NFU president Henry Plumb led the negotiating team into price review talks with government. But the NFU boss, firmly established as the industrys standard-bearer, had the confidence of farmers. "He strikes you as a fighter, a man who wont knuckle under," said one.
The sense of expectation about what he could deliver also meant the atmosphere in the run-up to the review had been quiet, in contrast to 12 months earlier when farmers blocked the streets of busy towns and bought Saturday shopping to a standstill in protest.
Those looking for money-making opportunities, meanwhile, talked of the profits to be made from tame rabbit meat. But this was dismissed by one expert. Clive Tetlaw, one of only three people with a national diploma in rabbit husbandry, warned starry-eyed entrants against the venture. "They come in, often lose a packet and go out again," he said.
Bunnies in another capacity were exercising the minds of others. A rabbit population explosion costing farmers £20m a year could follow the governments decision to stop its £500,000 a year grant aid to rabbit clearance societies, warned some. "Penny wise but pound foolish," declared the chairman of the Federation of Rabbit Clearance Societies.
On a macro-economic scale, a meeting between producers, economists and marketing experts concluded farmers would have little to fear if Britain joined the Common Market. But thats another story – and maybe the jurys still out on that one.