Group calls for immediate help for beef farmers

04 March 1998

Group calls for immediate help for beef farmers

A COMMONS agriculture committee report demanded the government give
sympathetic short-term help to the beef industry to secure its long-term
survival.

It criticised present and former governments for wasting time and money that could have been spent on restructuring the industry.

Jack Cunningham, agriculture minister, said many of the recommendations were already being implemented.

The document attacked the European Union for subverting moves to lift its global export ban on British beef for political and commercial reasons to benefit other EU farmers.

The report was highly critical of MAFF for loading additional costs on the beef industry. It called on the Government to review the Torys decision to cut rendering aid, and its own decision to impose a maximum weight payment limit on cattle slaughtered under the over thirty-month-scheme (OTMS).

• Financial Times 04/03/98 page 9
  
• The Scotsman 04/03/98 page 31
  
• The Independent 04/03/98 page 8
  
• The Daily Telegraph 04/03/98 page 10