TALKING POINT
TALKING POINT
After the worst
farming year in many
memories it is time
for serious political
action, says
Finn Christensen
THE next 12 months could be the make-or-break year for British farmers. The time has come for politicians to address the issues of outdated trade agreements which allow sub-standard food to flood into this country, and the so-called cheap food policies which are tainted by EU grants and subsidies and over-regulation.
Last year was the worst ever in many farming peoples memories. It wasnt just the drama of world events but the suffering caused by the fiasco of governments handling of foot-and-mouth following so soon after the BSE bungle.
As a dairy farmer involved in the now-dead Milk Marketing Board and Milk Marque, I can look back in anger at the way milk producers have been treated. For years, the farming industry has suffered from the actions, or lack of them, by a stream of weak and indecisive ministers and civil servants raining havoc on the food chain.
Despite persistent warnings of the dangers of importing meat and other foodstuffs, Britain became the dustbin for foreign food produced in countries where health, hygiene and animal welfare are words not requirements as in the UK. Why import meat when we can easily produce enough for home use and for export? A clear directive must be given to importers and the countries holding us to old-fashioned trade agreements that their dodgy practices must stop or the imports will cease.
MAFF has changed its name to DEFRA but more change is needed. It must stop spewing out red tape regulations as often as a sick calf scours. DEFRA has asked for comments on the future working of milk quota. Lets hope it listens to we farmers and processors. The dairy industry has suffered from too much change too fast; change that has caused bankruptcies and millions of pounds in lost profits. This is a great chance for us to install a quota system that is fair and equitable to working farmers, not those sofa farmers without investment in dairying. Last year was a classic example of how corrupt the quota exchange system has become. The Intervention Boards register shows that less permanent quota has been sold than the previous year. Temporary quota trading is at the same level, except that 10m more litres have been leased, compared with the 2000/01 milk year. Yet its commonly believed there isnt much quota. There is plenty but the market is being kept short to shore up prices. All quota should be put back into the hands of those who pull the teats and let them manage the market themselves.
We must foster the will-power – and make the effort – to work as a team to get British agriculture back on its feet this year. We must shape our short-term and long-term future profitability and development into the next decade.
We must learn that we are not in competition with each other and we must cast aside the arrogant belief that we are a better farmer than our neighbour. Lets stop being the over-regulated poor relation of Europe by giving our leaders a clear message that we want to work together to restore proper business practices and profits to working farmers in our much-maligned industry. That will require eliminating the subsidy system and rationalising production and methods, as well as controlling sub-standard imports.
If we have to work in a free market on the world stage, politicians must free up farmers to allow them to get on with the job on that elusive level playing field.
Railtrack shareholders may yet get the scalp they demand. Farmers may hope that the scalps of those who failed them recently will also be collected in due time.