Archive Article: 2002/05/10
Assurance schemes are unfair
Your correspondent, Mr Pestell, in his letter (April 26) "Whats wrong with our corn?" accurately and precisely voiced the disgust and concern felt by those independent-minded British farmers who refuse to join these tiresome, expensive and unfair assurance schemes.
It is appalling that our feed manufacturers and millers should prefer to buy non-assured imported grains, from growers who cannot possibly be members of British assurance schemes. But at the same time they refuse to consider buying top quality British grain from non-assured farms.
It would be interesting to know how those manufacturers can claim that feedstuffs which contain non-assured imported grain can be legitimately fed to cattle, pigs and sheep which are produced under the livestock assurance schemes. Assured meat products from these animals, displaying the little red tractor logo, is then sold to consumers.
The scenario seems to be deceitful to say the least. If they are unable to produce documentary evidence that all the contents of their feedstuffs are assured, is it a breech of the trades description act, and should trading standards officers be concerned?
Unfair and anti-British schemes should be replaced with a new label and logo: "Grown and produced in Great Britain by Great British farmers." It should also carry the Union flag emblazoned across all retail packaging.
Dick Lindley
Birkwood Farm, Altofts, Normanton, West Yorks.
Biosecurity is still important
Your recent issue highlighting biosecurity (Opinion and Livestock, Apr 19) was a timely reminder to all those who work on or visit farms of the need to stop the spread of diseases on and between farms.
Last year biosecurity became synonymous with the fight to control the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. Unfortunately, that lead to some farmers to link the precautions solely with F&M control rather than their farms direct and continued benefit.
Often advice on this most important subject ends with farmers eyes starting to glaze over. Just mentioning the B word at meetings seems to be a better cure for insomnia than counting sheep.
I know your erudite readers like a challenge and are always full of good ideas.
I wonder if they might be able to come up with a new word which would better encompass the importance of biosecurity for every farm, stockperson, farmer and farm visitor as well as give some dynamism to the concept and save it from being hijacked by F&M.
Tony Andrews
Acorn House, 25 Mardley Hill, Welwyn, Herts.
Wake up call for England
What are we doing in Europe? The French and Germans have not done anything for us and have always looked after their own. We are going to lose our sovereignty and all that Britain stands for – fair play, justice, compassion and integrity. Are we going to stand by and see it all go down the drain?
Also, why should we copy the United States with its greed, shallowness, crime and violence? Years ago Europhiles would have been hung, drawn and quartered.
We had the worlds best and most sustainable farmers and bred the best livestock.
Look what happens when the Americans get hold of our breeds. They ruined the British Friesians with the Holstein, besides importing diseases.
All politicians want is cheap food to be achieved by screwing the Third World farmers into the ground. Then the plan is to pay them charity similar to English farmers.
Our NFU leadership is weak and I understand it originally supported the Animal Health Bill whereby DEFRA could kill all your livestock without notice or appeal. Thank goodness it was turned down by the House of Lords.
The NFU will eventually have to listen to its members instead of Tony Blair. So wake up England before it is too late.
KA Luscombe
Appledore, Broadhempston, Nr Totnes, Devon.
New meaning to price war
What does it take to make farmers speak up? It is a fact that the average UK ex-farm price of beef in 2000 was exactly the same as 1981!
Likewise, the UK average price of lamb in 2000 was the same as in 1985. Why do we accept that? Why dont farmers write to their MPs and complain about agricultural prices? Their salaries are index-linked. Ask them if they will return to 1981 salaries.
Get your pens out and write to whoever will listen. If they do not want to listen, make them listen. Harangue them, pester them, but dont accept things as they are. If you do nothing it is your fault. Lets all wake up and act.
L J Jenkins
Clyn-yr-Ynys, Gwbert, Cardigan.
Too much milk being produced
How many more milk price cuts will there be before dairy farmers realise that continually increasing production is the cause of the problem not the cure?
Too much milk is produced from fewer farms.
The main reason is the Holstein cow. Like another well-meaning import, the grey squirrel, this animal has indirectly wreaked havoc on the indigenous species. Most dairy breeds are capable of producing five or six gallons at little input cost. The Holstein doubtless produces twice that amount but at immeasurable cost.
The main beneficiaries of this breed have been the scientists who have had fun playing with the genetics, the breeders who sell them and the feed companies providing vast amounts of food to sate their voracious appetites. Then there are the machinery and building manufacturers fabricating all sorts of wacky machinery and empires of asbestos to accommodate them. Lets not forget the drug companies devising all manner of potions to enable the beast to stand upright on concrete or to reproduce itself.
It must now be time for dairy farmers to return to a native breed of cow more suited to this country and its climate albeit producing less milk but at far less cost. An underlying shortage is more likely to engender a reasonable price than the present surplus. At 16p per litre the alternative, hoping our neighbour retires to make more room for oneself, it not a viable option.
AG Hammond
Upton Bottom Farm, East Knoyle, Salisbury, Wilts.
NFU needs a serious rival
I have to respond to all the contributions regarding the establishment of an arable association. I am not a total supporter of the idea of an arable association because the government and the media listen only to those who are the biggest or who shout the loudest.
If a separate organisation is set up, it will only dilute the force that the NFU can take with it to the corridors of power. There is no way the government would discuss matters with a small arable organisation. But if such an organisation were set up, it would be worthwhile because it would give the NFU a resounding kick. For too long, the NFU has arrogantly assumed that it is the only farming organisation. In taking such a defensive strategy it has led to some of the biggest setbacks to hit farming for many generations.
How many more times must we listen to the Soil Association knock conventional farming in the media? We all know that organic farming has no serious future as a large-scale food producer for the nation. But because of the associations offensive strategy it is blindly supported by Whitehall and Fleet Street.
If the NFU stopped thinking about itself and started thinking about the wider picture it would gain more respect from the farmers who it is supposed to represent. The one piece of good it has done is the little red tractor.
Jim Powell
White Cottage, Fulford Farm, Culworth, Oxon.
NFU, too much we know best
I write as an ex-member who left the NFU with sadness following foot-and-mouth. Its handling of the crisis did not impress me and the last straw was when it failed to consult members before deciding not to press for a public inquiry despite the apparent overwhelming number of members who wanted one.
I wish those who are demanding more openness and democracy the best of luck. But I fear that there is such an inbred culture of "we know best" rather than listening to the grass root members that little will be achieved.
Ian Stevenson
Court Lodge, Whitton, Nr. Ludlow, Shropshire.
Government support lacking
I remember when the Conservatives and the now Lord Walker of Worcester was farm minister and encouraged farmers in the early 1980s to produce all they could. Grants were duly made available for new buildings. But what do we witness under New Labour?
We have suffered flooding and foot-and-mouth with all its consequences for rural life. Now with another spring, secretary of state, Margaret Beckett is outlining DEFRAs considerations of the food and farming commissions report.
We should not forget how governments have treated the diminishing farming structure and the lack of support for the younger generation trying to get a foothold in farming. How can a living and working countryside be forthcoming when market forces dictate otherwise?
John E Willett
Future of Rural Society, 14 Eastgate Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire.
Five aspects to our march
Charlie Flindt (Talking Point, Apr 26) is wrong to insist that the Countryside Alliance march should be about hunting, and hunting alone. To say that we are "pretending" it to be otherwise is naïve. Please be clear that anyone who does not subscribe to all five principles of our march – including the right for people to decide for themselves whether they hunt – will not be welcome on it.
We need a sustainable, diverse and tolerant countryside. The alliance, as one of the main lobbying organisations on countryside issues, has a vital role to play in making this a reality. While our focus must be on hunting at present, because of the distorted rural priorities of Westminster, we remain determined to press ahead with constructive policy development and community project activities. Unfortunately, we have no control over the media, which appears more interested in hearing from us on hunting, than about progressive ideas that help rural people.
Our work on farming co-operatives, which Mr Flindt saw on our web-site but failed to read, is a priority determined by the recent Curry report. Reading beyond the headlines on modulation would reveal that we are suggesting new solutions to age-old problems. Farmers dont want to lose 20% of their subsidies – so we have proposed that modulated money stays on-farm, and that farmers have access to it in return for meeting environmental and social commitments.
Politicians are largely ignoring the real problems and priorities of the countryside. When they do show interest, it is usually in doing things to, rather than for, rural people. Hunting has become the touchstone for rural communities anger and frustration – and our politicians will assuredly find this out when we bring hundreds of thousands of people to London on Sept 22.
Fiona Davies
Policy development team, Countryside Alliance, London. Fiona-davies@countryside-alliance.org
Co-ops best at marketing
The recent sad news of the problems with Viking Cereals (Opinion and Business, Apr 19) does nothing to help our industry regain the initiative and get itself back on an even keel. Our thoughts are with those farmer members involved.
It is vitally important though, that we as farmers and growers do not forget the fact that grain co-operatives trade our physical grain. We must not leave our grain marketing to a few multinational companies whose only interest is their shareholders dividend.
The grain co-operatives market a significant proportion of the UK cereal crop and are a significant link between the grower and the end-user. Marketing physical grain to its best advantage is what these companies do best and that means more money to the grower. Trading on the futures market is a risky business because just as surely as someone makes a pound then someone else loses one.
The government is encouraging us to market our product through collaborative marketing structures and become more responsible for our income through added value and closer contact with the end-user. Credit insurance and regular financial monitoring as well as good group management all help safeguard the farmers interests.
Farming does not get much encouragement from government but here is a marketing structure that is being actively encouraged.
The demise of Viking Cereals could just as easily have happened to any commercial company. We would do well to support our grain co-operatives. They market on behalf of the farmer.
William Antrobus
Chairman, Severn Grain, Greenways Farm, Shawbury Lane, Fillongley, Coventry.
Cows are cause of bovine TB
As a former member of the governments badgers and TB consultative panel, I am saddened but unsurprised at the present cattle TB crisis and renewed calls for more badger culls.
The crisis demonstrates that the problem has been a bovine one all along, with spillover to badgers, deer and even farm cats and dogs. The pivotal misunderstanding is that it takes a year for cattle to reach the infectious reactor stage. That is why cattle TB schemes must include two elements. First, annual testing to allow removal of TB cases before they can pass it on to other cattle or badgers to any great extent. Repeat tests may also be needed.
Second, acknowledgement that this is partly why the TB test is only 80% accurate. Movement bans are the only guaranteed way to stop TB getting into TB-free areas, via missed cattle.
The present upsurge in cattle TB started at the peak of BSE when MAFF was overstretched. Longer test intervals were brought in, fewer cattle were tested, and massive movement of replacement stock started the spread into TB-free areas.
DEFRA has been overstretched with foot-and-mouth, and with no TB tests for 10 months, plus cattle kept in over-winter as long as possible to avoid F&M, has allowed TB build-up within herds. Restocking has already taken TB into Cumbria and south-west Scotland. The disease is now appearing in areas in Wales and the Midlands, TB-free for 30-50 years due to missed cattle seeding new clusters, with contiguous spread across inadequate fencing into herds closed for years. Spread has also occurred via hire bulls, slurry, rats, possibly even relief milkers.
M Hancox,
17 Nouncells Cross, Stroud, Glos.
Pollution cure removes rights
I refer to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. How many more times do we have to read about people in pinstriped suits who do not contribute anything to the country, apart from taking peoples rights away and criticising hardworking farmers?
After 30 years hard farm work, I wonder if the people who work for the Royal Commission are in the same boat as farmers? We have recently suffered years of BSE, foot-and-mouth and all sorts of government interference. Dont these people realise that this could be a good case for the Court of Human Rights if the government takes away rights which farmers have enjoyed for 50 years?
The farmers I know often go heavily into debt to put up new buildings to try to improve their business and produce quality food that this country enjoys.
If the Royal Commission is serious about this countryside not being polluted, it should advise English Partnerships which is another arm of the government to stop giving itself planning permission on green field sites and then selling the land to developers for large sums of money.
I hope farmers never go on strike but then people in pinstriped suits, who never get their hands dirty, may realise the importance of the farmers.
John Bryan
Birchtree Farm, Red Lane, Appleton, Warrington, Cheshire.