Archive Article: 2001/07/27
27 July 2001
Everyone should sign Blair letter
I am delighted that FW is campaigning for a full public inquiry. If the campaign achieves the levels of support expected, surely Mr Blair cannot fail to back down and acknowledge that a public inquiry is necessary to get to the truth and make those who handled this tragedy so badly accountable?
Pointing the finger of blame is not the main objective of an inquiry. It is to get truthful answers to the following questions (and many more) as quickly and cost effectively as possible to prevent it happening again.
Some of the most important questions surround the source of the outbreak.
How long had the government known about the possibility of an outbreak and why were MAFF officials trying to locate sleepers as far back as Dec/Jan?
Why did it take so long for movements to stop and how has the outbreak spread? The only common denominator in many new cases is visits from DEFRA officials and slaughter teams.
Was the cull policy, including contiguous farms and dangerous contacts, ill-advised and what is the true number of animals slaughtered? What about the alleged theft of a test tube from Porton Down? Have pyres helped spread the disease?
Why do we import meat from countries where the disease is known to be present? Several friends have reported that on recent trips abroad, comprehensive checks have been carried out at most destinations and many questions asked. On their return to the UK – nothing!
Everyone should sign the letter to Mr Blair and encourage friends, all members of their families and aquaintances to do the same. Imagine the support if everyone lobbied breed societies, local shops, hotels and guest houses, local hunts, feed merchants and hay and straw merchants. Ask your local pubs and shops to leave letters on their bars and counters. We are asking for the truth and deserve a reply.
Caroline Russell
carolinerussell@ukonline.co.uk
Thanks, FW, for your campaign
Please accept our sincere thanks and our appreciation for your campaign for a full public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth debacle, about which there is much unanswered speculation.
The whole countryside is seething with discontent and frustration at what we perceive to be the governments totally unsympathetic attitude, as we suffer the deepest depression in agriculture since the war.
That is exacerbated by the fact that it chooses this time to demonstrate its antipathy towards us by prioritising the fox-hunting nonsense (in the Queens Speech) over matters of much greater concern to us all.
So far the government has been let off the hook regarding its handling of F&M, which we know has left a lot to be desired. The Countryside Alliance and some other publications are also campaigning for a full public inquiry. It is essential to present our case to the public and to ensure the survival of British agriculture for our future generations.
Tony Jervis
Winderton Farm, Winderton, Banbury, Oxon.
Urban policies snub rural life
Let us hope and pray that we do have a public inquiry into the scandal and mishandling of this foot-and-mouth outbreak by an urban-thinking government which knows and cares little for the rural way of life. Through its misguided policies it has ruined the rural economy and, to some extent, that of the rest of Britain.
Facts that have emerged since the first case makes one wonder if we are living under a dictatorship not dissimilar to the present one in China. Many matters need investigation including: the missing F&M phial, the early ordering of the timber, the increase in the orders for waterproof clothing for DEFRA and the ordering of F&M warning signs before the outbreak. Why were contractors and extra vets brought in to help, all made to sign the Official Secrets Act?
I am just old enough to have childhood memories of the last war when farmers were a respected breed who, through their skill and knowledge, produced food for the nation and kept the British population fed in troubled times.
I wonder if Britain faced another disaster and the food supplies from Europe ceased, what would be the British publics reaction? They would scream at the government for home-produced food and the politicians would look at each other in panic saying: "Weve no farms or farmers." That position may seem like a fantasy but history has a habit of repeating itself. So, my advice to Tony Blair and his cronies is: Think on.
Yes, we want a public inquiry. To hang with the cost. Whats a few £m when the Dome standing empty costs far more. Lets have the true facts and no more cover-ups.
J Grey
Newton, Tornaveen, Torphins, Banchory, Aberdeenshire.
6000 signatures on one petition
I congratulate you on enabling people to request a public inquiry into the horrific problem of foot-and-mouth. I collected more than 6000 signatures in one week and handed my petition into No 10, Downing Street on May 3.
My petition was against the mindless slaughter of healthy animals and to introduce the vaccination as advised by the Soil Association to bring the countryside back to work. Sir Michael Spicer enabled me to take my petition to Downing Street and for that I cannot praise him enough.
Campaigns still go on throughout our country set up by caring, upstanding people in our society and I wish them well. But it is time we all got together on a public inquiry to stop this outrage and carnage and make sure it never happens again. Good luck FW – I salute you.
Anne Mietke
The Woodlands, Slades Green, Longdon, Worcs.
Not over yet by a long chalk
Foot-and-mouth is not over. Ask the vets in Thirsk, North Yorks. They are worried that the cluster of cases is close to major areas of North Yorks pig production.
That raises the terrifying prospect of F&M spreading throughout Yorks, Lincs, Norfolk and other eastern counties. The virus is particularly virulent and pigs secrete it many times more than cattle. According to the vets, the need for bio-security and disinfection has never been greater. Its so important that farmers should not move about in other areas.
I just wish the crisis could be taken more seriously nationwide. Too many people think there is nothing more to worry about. And I wish they would keep the footpaths closed anywhere near cattle, sheep and pigs. It is not worth the risk.
It seems that farmers can apply to have paths temporarily diverted and seek exceptions against opening paths running through farmyards. It is also possible to have signed alternative routes around high densities of livestock used as a preventative measure where there is a great risk of spreading disease.
A message to all those affected by F&M: We have not forgotten you. Our prayers are with you.
A Vigrass
Bexwell House, Bexwell Rd, Downham Market, Norfolk.
Quality not size is lamb criterion
The comments of Northern Food chairman Lord Haskins that small hill lambs were a waste and a product that no one wants must not go unanswered.
True, there will be a massive surplus of lambs this autumn but I am concerned at the way light hill lambs are being portrayed as unmarketable. They are no more unmarketable than any other lamb if they are of good quality.
It is worrying that Lord Haskins, who heads an agricultural government think tank, should be unaware that there is a strong niche market for good quality hill lambs.
Their principal quality is eating and taste superiority; their only disadvantage is lack of size and perhaps a comparatively short season. That is why they have been discounted on the home market by the slaughter trade. It costs the same to kill a small lamb as a big one; so the cost/kg is much higher for small lambs. Eating quality and taste appears to be of little interest to the slaughter trade or the MLC.
All is not lost and thanks to the work of the Welsh lamb promotion bodies, I, as an individual have no problem marketing my pure bred Welsh Mountain male lambs through the Welsh Mountain Sheep Society/Safeway supermarket scheme. Indeed, I have received a worthwhile premium.
Smaller surplus ewe lambs are not so easy and depend on the export trade or private sales. I am not a butcher or slaughter house operator and the cost of killing, cold storage and hygiene facilities for these lambs makes it difficult to produce a cost effective marketing plan that leaves a worthwhile margin if I am to be in line with local prices.
With a producer-owned slaughter house/cold store/cutting plant with marketing facilities within a reasonable distance, things could be different and our returns significantly improved given correct management. The MLC could help us. I suggest it spends less on stressing to farmers the supposed benefits of growth rate, conformation, prolifically and more on informing the public of the eating quality and taste of lamb from the mountains.
C Evans
Lady Arbour Court, Eardisley, Herefordshire.
Gills k keenness is not shared
Ben Gills enthusiasm for the failing k (Letters, Jul 13) would be fine, but for the fact that his position as NFU president may lead the rest of the UK to believe that his views represent the majority view of British agriculture. Nothing could be further from the truth. The vast majority of British farmers are shrewd hard-headed businessmen, who know that to place the entire value of ones assets into the care of a cascading currency, whose management is based in Frankfurt, is foolhardy to say the least. To be naive enough to think that they will have the interests of British citizens at heart is idiotic.
The political rulers of the k are concerned, first and foremost, with using their enormous fiscal power to create a United States of Europe, reaching from the Urals to the Atlantic, with its heart in the centre of Europe, the recently united Berlin.
If Mr Gill had been elected to office on the basis of one man one vote, and if his election manifesto had expressed the view that the NFU should assist in the destruction of our own superb currency, the £, then he would have every right to use his position to further the case for the k. But until such a time arrives, I think it is neither fair nor proper that he should do so.
Dick Lindley
Birkwood Farm, Altofts, Normanton, West Yorks.
Pretty girls and sugar beet ads
Do sugar beet growers really choose their varieties on the basis of how pretty the girls are in the adverts?
Charlie Flindt
Manor Farm, Hinton Ampner, Alresford, Hants.
Please be wary on soil content
I was interested to read the article on soil and animal health (Livestock, June 1). The effect of molybdenum and sulphur on reducing the availability of copper in forage has been known for some time. The level of molybdenum in grass is closely related to the pH, a higher soil pH means more molybdenum in the grass and less copper available to the animal.
Thus over-liming must be avoided if the soil has a high level of molybdenum and the soil pH should be kept near to 6.0. Regular soil analysis for pH, P, K and Mg, costing about $6.50 per sample, is a good investment. Of the other nutrients mentioned, sulphur is also antagonistic to copper absorption. So if you have a copper problem, be wary about applying sulphur unless the grass is sulphur-deficient.
George Wadsworth
Fieldfare Associates, Beechwood, South Stoke Road, Woodcote, Reading.
Be grateful for speedy payment
We were interested to read D Palmers comments (Letters, Jul 6) in which he seemed to complain that he had been paid promptly for this years wool clip.
It is difficult to think of any other crop for which Mr Palmer would have been paid more quickly as he, as the majority of producers, receives his cheque within about five days of the wool going to the depot.
That is despite the cash-flow problems of the Wool Board. As a result of foot-and-mouth, we still have about 3m kg of last years wool yet to sell and are required to store all producers current wool for two months before offering it for sale.
The delay in publishing the price schedule, referred to by Mr Palmer, was also largely due to F&M and the difficulties in agreeing and implementing codes of practice and arrangements for shearing, collecting and handling this years clip.
At a time when farmers are being encouraged to form and join co-operatives to market their produce, surely it is worth considering the Wool Boards role. It sells most of the wool clip for producers within the year of production, although the greater part is harvested in three months; supplies containers; arranges collection, grading, packing and storing the wool and co-ordinates orderly marketing to ensure the best return for the growers.
Isnt this effectively a co-operative and worth producers support? How many dairy farmers would like to see the return of the MMB?
Frank Langrish
Chairman, British Wool Marketing Board, Wool House, Roysdale Way, Euroway Trading Estate, Bradford.
Urban societys poor attitude
After the devastating news of the foot-and-mouth outbreak at Clayhanger, less than 10km away, I was extremely worried when a large brown envelope arrived in the post marked "Foot-and-Mouth: Open Immediately".
Thinking it could mean my livestock were about to join the next contiguous cull, I was relieved to find it was from Somerset County Councils Public Rights of Way Department. My relief soon turned to anger when I read that it planned to open all rights of way in my area, unless I applied for special permission to keep them closed.
After 110 days of trying to keep the farm isolated and quarantined to prevent the spread of F&M, I am not the only farmer who will take this as the final insult.
The worst F&M outbreak in the world is being treated as a mere inconvenience by our increasingly urban society.
P Bashford
Stolford Farm, Brendon Hill, Watchet, Somerset.
Defending food sovereignty
European farmers will be wise to avoid pressing their hopes for future prosperity on payments for caring for the countryside, while at the same time the EU food market is thrown open to global free trade. Environmental payments may begin on the generous side, however as time passes economic pressure will wither them.
Our prime tactic should be to join the battle against global free trade. Without protection from unregulated trade, we European family farmers are doomed, and the multi-national conglomerates will mould EU agriculture to their own convenience. We are not alone; opposition to globalisation is strong, vocal and increasingly well organised, not least from the third world.
Our aim must be to house train the World Trade Organisation and make it answerable to everybody not just a pact of multi-national traders, the USA government and their various groups of hangers on.
All trading blocks like the EU must have the right to defend their food sovereignty. And to levy import tariffs on a similar basis to the 18th and 19th century corn laws.
Import tariffs were high when domestic corn prices were low and at times of shortage, tariffs were lowered. Corn law protection could apply to most EU farm products from corn to wheat and bring economic stability.
We also have to learn to farm sustainably and to respect the environment and to accept more supervision over our farming. Protected food sovereignty and a strong move to sustainable agriculture should give EU farmers a future.
Tony Surely
Grange Farm, Broxholme, Lincoln.
F&Mvideo is not practical
I have just finished watching the new DEFRA video on biosecurity and stopping the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. Frankly, I found the tone of the video patronising and most of the advice given is plain common sense.
No farmer or haulier in his or her right mind wants to be responsible for spreading this terrible disease either to their own stock or worse still to a neighbour.
What DEFRA fails to grasp is that all the biosecurity measures it suggests cost extra time and money in the form of more disinfectant, power and labour. That comes at a time when farmers in the worst affected areas are already facing huge debt.
It would have been of more practical help if DEFRA had sent each livestock holding a £25 voucher to be credited against their next purchase of disinfectant. Instead of which we get a glossy video which is little more than a public relations exercise.
Caroline Cooper
cowstead@supanet.com