Auctioneers criticise Haskins report

18 October 2001



Auctioneers criticise Haskins report

By FWi staff

AUCTIONEERS voiced dismay after Lord Haskins warned that more livestock markets would close in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The Livestock Auctioneers Association accused the Labour peer of failing to understand live markets after he unveiled his foot-and-mouth recovery plan.

The document, published on Thursday (October 18), says markets were a “weak link” which accelerated the spread of the epidemic.

Markets cannot continue in their fragmented state, says the report. Those that do continue must be better regulated in the future, it adds.

But Peter Kingwill, chairman of the Livestock Auctioneers Association, said the industry was already undergoing a rationalisation process.

He acknowledged that further closures were likely but insisted that markets still had a vital role to play for farmers.

Auctions offer price transparency not found elsewhere, said Mr Kingwill.

“I do not think [Lord Haskins] understands much about how markets work and how much has changed in recent years,” he said.

“Markets did not cause foot-and-mouth disease and nor did farmers. The
disease was caused by a lack of controls on imports.”