All the new FMD stories from Ananova Foot and mouth noticeboard electronic telegraph

NEWS STORY ARCHIVE 2001 - 2002

Farmers call for legal regulation of supermarkets
icWales

Sheila Coleman
FARMERS have given the thumbs down to supermarkets and want to see their activities regulated by law.
These are the findings of a survey carried out by the Farmers' Union of Wales, which reveals the depth of feeling towards the retail giants.
It found that not only do farmers overwhelmingly think that they have a poor relationship with supermarkets, but the vast majority (94pc) of those questioned also want the Government to introduce laws to control the supermarkets.
Also when asked whether super-markets had a good working relation-ship with farmers, 89pc of farmers said they did not with 6pc saying yes.
Jan 9

Farmers' Blockade to go ahead
The Scotsman

Militant farmers tonight agreed to push ahead with protests against Tesco after the supermarket giant failed to agree to high level talks over produce costs. Farmers For Action (FFA) said it would push ahead with protests against the chain but said Tesco could stop the action at any stage by agreeing to the meeting. But with Tesco refusing to back down to the demand, action seems likely and it is thought blockades of key Tesco depots could be on the cards. A total of 28 farmers from across Britain met at a secret location tonight in Wiltshire to discuss their plans which could lead to the biggest mass action since the fuel protests of September 2000.
Protests against Tesco would go ahead "imminently" but chairman David Handley said FFA would give the chain a few more days to agree to their request for a meeting with chief executive Sir Terry Leahy.
"The meeting went very well indeed," Mr Handley said. "It was a unanimous decision that action will be taken but we're going to speak to Tesco to say that we're prepared to give them a little longer to consider their decision."
Mr Handley said FFA has been in touch with similar groups in France who have previously campaigned against McDonald's.
Jan 9

Whitehall machine attacked
ICWales

Jan 8 2002 Sheila Coleman
THE Government's handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis has been condemned by farmers. A survey carried out by the Farmers' Union of Wales found great dissatisfaction among farmers with the Whitehall machine, while the National Assembly came in for praise. The survey asked farmers to rate the performance of the Ministry of Agriculture/Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs during the epidemic, and also for their views on the National Assembly's handling of farming matters in general. Seventy-five per cent of those questioned believed that Maff/Defra had performed badly during the crisis, with 59pc of those describing the Whitehall agencies as being poor - or worse. Only 18pc believed that Maff/Defra had carried out their duties adequately, while 6.5pc rated them as good or better. ........33pc believed the National Assembly was under performing, and a large majority would like to see the body's powers increased. The survey found that 77pc were in favour of the Assembly being given greater responsibility for farming, with only 11pc against. .........
It is unfortunate that during the foot-and-mouth epidemic, the National Assembly could only act as agents to carry out Defra's policies. "The FUW has called for more agricultural powers to be devolved to the Assembly. We believe that if the Assembly had the same powers as the Scottish Parliament to deal with animal health matters, the foot-and-mouth out-break in Wales would have been handled much more efficiently and would have been over much more quickly."
Jan 8

Farmer vows rave rage after police refuse to deal with intruders
ICWales

Jan 8 2002
A FARMER has said he is prepared to use violence to stop people breaking into his property and holding rave parties. David Benton issued the warning after claiming police stood by and did nothing as almost 100 ravers took over a turkey shed at his Lincolnshire home and held a loud New Year's Eve party. Mr Benton, 44, said, "I will defend my property, and I will use violence if I have to if this happens again. The police have already said they will arrest me if I do." Mr Benton, who runs a farm in the small hamlet of Moorby, was shocked to see 10-ton lorries crashing through a gate on his farm delivering disco equipment and alcohol on New Year's Eve. "They set up their disco equipment and were having a party," he said. "I called the police and when they arrived they said they could not do anything because it could cause a public order incident. "It was like being a farmer in Zimbabwe - the police stood out-side the gate while inside people were smashing up my property and they were doing nothing about it." He estimates the rave goers caused more than £600 damage when they broke down a gate and tore open the doors to the turkey shed. They had even brought a portable generator to power lights and music equipment. Mr Benton said he had tried contacting his local area police commander to complain about the attitude and lack of action from police who arrived at the farm. He said, "Every time I try and ring they refuse to put me through. Now I am going to get in touch with my MP and see if he can do something. ..................

Farmer faces 700 'fridge mountain' bill
The Times

BY SIMON DE BRUXELLES
A FARMER is facing a bill of up to £700 to remove more than 50 old refrigerators that were dumped on his farm after new European Union environmental rules made it difficult to dispose of them legally. Regulations that came into force on New Year's Day require ozone-depleting CFC gases to be removed from the foam insulation layer of fridges and freezers before disposal. Previously, CFCs had to be removed only from the cooling systems. Tens of thousands of old fridges will need to be stored until they can be disposed of safely because Britain does not have any plants able to remove the CFCs from foam. The nearest ones that can are in Germany and Holland. Bob Partridge, from Tregolds, near Padstow, Cornwall, has discovered that 50 fridges were dumped on his land at St Merryn at some time in the last fortnight. It is the worst case of fly-tipping he has experienced in the 20 years he has owned the land. He fears it could pose a danger to his 300 cattle, and blames the new European law for the fridge "mountain". .....
Jan 8

Farmers to blockade Tesco over milk price
The Times

BY VALERIE ELLIOTT, COUNTRYSIDE EDITOR
POLICE chiefs have been told by militant farmers that they intend to step up protests against the supermarket giant Tesco from tonight unless the company agrees to negotiate over farm prices. The grassroots Farmers For Action plans to target distribution depots and numerous stores. A hardcore of about 500 farmers aim to disrupt supplies of staple goods such as milk, bread, meat, fresh vegetables, fruit and flowers.
Most action is expected to take place in Cheshire, Northamptonshire, South Yorkshire, Hampshire and South Wales where Tesco's main regional depots are based. A letter has been sent to selected chief constables giving a warning about possible blockades.
The FFA fears that Tesco, largest of the high street food retailers with 700 stores and £1 billion a year profit in 2001, is attempting to force down milk prices by up to 2p from April 1. A Tesco spokesman denied the charge last night, but made clear that the company could not control the leading dairies which set the price.
The leading high street stores are paying 20p a litre for milk (about 10p a pint), which is still below the average 22.5p it costs to produce a litre. The FFA, however, is convinced that Tesco is keen to see prices down to 18p a litre in the spring and fears that if it achieves that price other supermarkets will lower prices.
................. Tesco said farmers in its producers' clubs could attend meetings to air grievances. The FFA had targeted depots before Christmas and "we cannot talk to people who are taking unreasonable direct action". The Times has learnt that ministers are to be advised to create an independent prices watchdog to monitor relations between farmers and supermarkets. The move is among key proposals from the Government's policy commission on food and farming, due to report to Tony Blair this month. Supermarket chiefs are enraged by the proposal, however, and the issue has been forced back on the agenda of today's commission meeting.
Jan 8

Protest uses cows to air beef with state
Japan Times

KUMAMOTO (Kyodo) Authorities impounded six cows emblazoned with spray-painted protest slogans Monday after the animals were found wandering around Kumamoto Castle park here.
A cow spray-painted with the slogan "NO BSE" wanders around Kumamoto Castle park. Investigators believe the cows were sprayed with slogans such as "Koizumi Help" and "It's safe" as an act of protest over the central government's handling of the recent outbreak of mad cow disease.
Their owner is now being sought.
A passerby spotted four of the cows at around 5:10 a.m. on the castle's grounds and reported the discovery to police, sources said. Investigators found two more cows in the ensuing search -- one of which was nearby and the other a couple of kilometers away from the site. The cows were tame and no one was hurt in the incident.
Of the six cows, two were dairy animals and the rest beef cows known as red cows. The animals are currently being kept at an agricultural research center in the prefecture.
According to police, the abandonment of a cow can net the offender a fine of up to 300,000 yen under the animal protection law.
Jan 8

Farmer puts his energy into grass-growing
Ananova

A farmer is diversifying part of his business from growing traditional British crops and vegetables to planting a versatile grass. Brian Rutterford, from Lakenheath, Suffolk, is growing elephant grass on 10% of his 2,000 acre farm. He says the reduction in prices for crops, and an expanding market for the 12ft high plant, also known as miscanthus, have prompted the change. Mr Rutterford, a farmer for 30 years, said: "With the economics of modern food farming these days there is just no money in it.
Jan 8

Farmers want say over South Downs
Farmers Weekly

By Isabel Davies
FARMERS affected by plans to designate the South Downs as a national park want adequate representation on a future national park authority. Producers are expected to turn out in force for a meeting organised by the Countryside Agency in Lewes on Wednesday (9 January). Farmers will insist that they are fully represented on any future national park authority, according to the National Farmers' Union. They will also say they want to reinforce the point that the landscape of the downs will only be maintained by a profitable agriculture. Shaun Leavey, NFU south east regional director, said the government must remember that farmers manage 80% of the landscape in question. "Farmers have serious reservations about any national park authority on which they do not have adequate representation.
Jan 8

Don't plough to dodge law - Whitty
Farmers Weekly

FOOD and Farming Minister Lord Whitty has appealed for farmers not to plough up land to avoid new laws on uncultivated ground. Environmental assessments must be made before new land is brought into intensive agriculture under rules which come into force in February. The regulation will apply to unimproved grassland, heath, moorland, scrubland and wetlands. Lord Whitty said farmers could cause "irreversible environmental damage" if they ploughed previously uncultivated land to avoid the new laws. "Don't plough up your land and risk destroying valuable environmental habitats without considering the consequences," he said.
The minister said the introduction of Environmental Impact Assessment was a European requirement and the UK was not "gold-plating" regulations. "There is a clear public interest in safeguarding our most valuable and sensitive landscape and historic features and our wildlife habitats." A leaflet explaining the new rules will be sent to all farmers later this month. The laws will not be retrospective but do apply from 1 February.
Jan 8

New label rules to boost beef'
Farmers Weekly

By Adrienne Francis
BEEF industry leaders forecast that demand and prices for homebred cattle should improve as a result of labelling rules introduced last week. The country in which animals were born and raised must be named on meat packages under rules introduced on 1 January, 2002. The National Beef Association is anxious that enforcement authorities are quick to identify companies slow in meeting the new rules. Association chairman Robert Robinson said more home-killed beef should be available from 2003 if retailers act now. "Retailers should realise the best way to encourage British farmers is to make sure they are offered more for their product," he said. "This is more likely to happen if accurate country-of-origin labelling is introduced at speed."
Jan 8

Crunch time for gene crops
Farmers Weekly

By Adrienne Francis A BIOTECH company hopes to change opinion about genetically modified foods by improving the crunch in cornflakes, reports the Daily Telegraph. Monsanto will conduct a multi-million-pound research and breeding programme to create a strain of maize resistant to moisture, it says. Researches will try to discover plant genes producing high wax levels and transfer the quality into corn grown for breakfast cereals. UK development manager Colin Merritt said he hoped the research would show GM technology could produce "an obvious direct consumer benefit". But a spokesman for Friends of the Earth told the Telegraphthe research had a "fair claim to be the most pointless GM product yet".
Jan 8

Clone experts puzzled as Dolly grows old too soon
Telegraph

By David Derbyshire and Tom Peterkin (Filed: 05/01/2002)
DOLLY the sheep suffers from an unusual form of arthritis rarely found in ewes her age, raising concerns that cloning could trigger premature ageing.
Professor Ian Wilmut, the leader of the British team that created Dolly, said the ailment was likely to be linked to the cloning process and called for more research into the long-term health of clones. But he added that Dolly's pampered "celebrity" lifestyle, which has included overfeeding from visitors, might also have taken its toll.
Animal welfare campaigners said the discovery proved that cloning was cruel. Dolly, the first mammal cloned from a single cell from an adult animal, is enjoying an early retirement at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, where she was born in 1996.
Shortly before Christmas she became lame in the left hind leg. X-rays at the University of Edinburgh confirmed that she had arthritis in the hip and knee and she was given anti-inflammatory drugs to ease discomfort.
posted Jan 7

'No way of knowing' cause of Dolly's arthritis
Ananova

A scientist says there is no way of knowing if Dolly the Sheep's arthritis is linked to the cloning process Professor Ian Wilmut, who led the team which cloned the animal, said five-year-old Dolly has arthritis in her left hind leg at the hip and at the knee. Dolly is being "closely monitored" by veterinary staff at the Roslin Centre in Edinburgh. Professor Wilmut said: "We can't tell how it will develop but she is responding well to treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs." Asked whether the condition is because Dolly was cloned, he said: "There is no way of knowing if this is down to cloning or whether it is a coincidence. We will never know the answer to that question." "We are very disappointed and we will have to keep a careful eye on her. We will be monitoring her condition to see how it develops. In every other way, she is perfectly healthy and she has given birth to six healthy lambs." In May 1999, research suggested Dolly might be susceptible to premature ageing. The possibility that the world's most famous sheep might die early was raised after a study of her genetics.....
posted Jan 7

Mart is back but problems herald new year
The Darlington & Stockton Times

FARMERS taking sheep to Barnard Castle auction mart on Wednesday faced long delays, with freezing temperatures causing hold-ups in the cleansing of vehicles. Several described the situation as chaotic, with stock being taken into the mart but vehicles then unable to leave because pipes on a pressure washer, used to clean them, had frozen.
Mart chairman, Mr Len Cooper, confirmed there had been a problem with a pressure washer early on in the day. "It had not been used over the holiday period and the pipes were frozen solid," he said. "We rang around and got another to resolve the situation."
Mr Phil Barber, Barnard Castle NFU branch secretary, commenting on the lifting of foot-and-mouth restrictions in the county, had heard about the difficulties. "Now restrictions have been lifted, it will make moving stock about a lot easier," he said.
"However, because of continuing biosecurity, farmers are unable to put straw down in trailers, so even if they are washed out there could be potential welfare problems with stock sliding about when the water freezes.....
Jan 6

How Heath betrayed our fishermen
Sunday Telegraph

Christopher Booker's Notebook By Christopher Booker (Filed: 06/01/2002)
SECRET documents revealed last week under the 30-year rule complete the story of the most cynical smash-and-grab raid in the history of the European Union. It was this which led the prime minister of the day, Edward Heath, to give away the world's richest fishing waters - a national resource worth tens of billions of pounds - as the price he was prepared to pay to fulfil his dream of taking Britain into the Common Market in January 1973.
The new papers that have just been released, covering the year 1971, show that Heath's ministers did belatedly wake up to the catastrophe that this would prove for both fish stocks and Britain's fishing industry. But, when they realised that they had been outwitted, they were prepared to lie openly to Parliament to hide what they had done.
As was disclosed by the first batch of Foreign Office papers released last year, this strange story began in June 1970, when Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Norway were about to apply for membership of the Common Market.
Realising these four countries would control fishing waters containing more than 90 per cent of Europe's fish, the six original members and the European Commission laid an ambush by agreeing in principle, just hours before the applications arrived, that all fish in western European waters should be regarded as "a common European resource".
As the documents covering 1970 made clear, the Six knew that this was illegal. It was not authorised by the Treaty of Rome, but they gambled that, so long as the principle was agreed before the new countries applied for entry, the applicants would have to accept it as part of the acquis communautaire, the established body of Common Market law. The 1970 documents also revealed that the Heath government decided not to challenge the new "Common Fisheries Policy" for fear of prejudicing the negotiations.
...........................
Rippon returned to tell the Commons on December 13 "we retain full jurisdiction over the whole of our coastal waters up to 12 miles", which was wholly untrue. There would be, he said, "no change at all in the protection" afforded to British fishermen over the inshore waters from which they took 95 per cent of their catch. "I must emphasise that these are not just transitional arrangements which automatically lapse at the end of a fixed period." It is clear from the files that Rippon's officials knew that none of this was true. Harold Wilson, as leader of the opposition, protested it was wrong that the treaty should be signed before MPs had a chance to debate the fisheries deal. But MPs did not know how grievously they had been lied to because the relevant clauses of the treaty remained secret until after it was signed five weeks later, in January 1972. The consequences of Heath's surrender have become increasingly apparent, not least with the extension of the fisheries limits to 200 miles in 1976, under which British waters now contain more than two thirds of all Europe's fish. The CFP has resulted in a conservation catastrophe which has rapidly turned these waters into the desert that the Foreign Office privately foresaw in 1971. Under a regime which, for instance, permits French fishermen to catch 90 per cent of all cod in the English Channel, Britain's fishing industry, already savagely reduced on Brussels's orders, today faces terminal disaster. Ultimately there may have been no more damaging consequence to our national life of those events of 30 years ago than the way they engendered in politicians and civil servants that culture of deceit which has since become endemic throughout our government machine. What in 1971 was still shockingly new has now, in the age of Blair, become commonplace. Sir Edward, Knight of the Garter, has indeed left us a fearful legacy.
Jan 6

We still don't want euro, say Britons
Sunday Telegraph

By Joe Murphy, Political Editor
BRITONS are as determined as ever to keep the pound despite the fanfare launch of the euro five days ago, an exclusive opinion poll reveals today. It shows that 73 per cent of people oppose the single currency compared to 21 per cent who believe that Britain should join. The margin of more than three to one is one of the widest of any survey since the currency was first proposed. Most of those who say it is inevitable that Britain will join eventually believe this only because they think the Government will force them to do so against their will. Today's poll, the first test of public opinion since the New Year's Day launch of euro notes and coins, will alarm pro-euro campaigners. It is a severe blow to Tony Blair's hopes that opposition to the new currency would start to crumble once people saw it working successfully. It comes as tension increases between pro-euro ministers and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, over whether a referendum on joining will take place during this parliament. ...........Dominic Cummings, the director of the No Campaign, said: "People think the euro is inevitable only because of their low regard for this lying Government who they think will force them in."
Jan 6

Opinion polls would appear to reflect the desired outcome of the pollsters.....See the very different conclusions in the Sunday Times

Majority of Britons warm to euro entry
Sunday Times

DAVID SMITH AND DAVID CRACKNELL
BRITISH voters are warming towards the euro, suggesting that the government could win a referendum on taking Britain into a single currency, a new poll shows. The survey, by YouGov Opinion Research, will be seized upon by the pro-euro lobby.
It comes as Charles Clarke, the Labour party chairman, gives a broad hint that the government will make its decision on euro entry this year. Clarke, in the strongest indication yet that the government is close to making up its mind on the issue, said in an interview with The Sunday Times that 2002 would be a "decisive year" for Britain's euro entry prospects. He also emphasised the "political imperative" of joining the single currency.
The poll shows for the first time that an overall majority of people (52%) would either join the euro immediately ( 18%) or when economic conditions are right (34%). Only 25% are hardline opponents of entry, saying Britain should never join.
Jan 6

And this one.....

Three out of four Britons say no to euro
Scotland on Sunday

BRIAN BRADY
bdbrady@scotlandonsunday.com TONY Blair's hopes of leading Britain into a quick vote on the future of the pound suffered an early blow last night as a new poll showed that 73% of voters had not been won over by the new European single currency.
The first test of public opinion since the euro was introduced on New Year's Day revealed voters did not believe Britain had missed out by failing to join the new currency in the first wave.
Scotland on Sunday has also learnt that ministers' preferred date for a euro referendum is next spring  which will clash with the Scottish parliament elections. The news comes as a new split emerged within the Cabinet when Charles Clarke, the Labour Party chairman, cast doubt on how important the Treasury's five key economic criteria for euro-entry were  increasing fears Britain could be bounced into entry against the advice of more cautious ministers.
The government has always said it would rigorously apply Chancellor Gordon Brown's tests on whether to adopt the euro but Clarke said that they were open to interpretation. He said: "Of course there will be room for argument, as with [any] tests, by definition. You can never get two economists to agree so there will always be plenty of arguments about how the tests are done."
His outburst is likely to enrage Brown, who has seen himself as the main judge of whether Britain will be economically ready to enter the single currency.
The poll of 1,000 people on January 1 and 2 was carried out by ICM on behalf of Business for Sterling. The results contradict the government's view that resistance to the single currency is 'soft' and can be won over by intensive campaigning.
Ministers from Blair downwards have been waging a concerted campaign to 'soften up' the public in preparation for an escalation in the argument over the future of sterling.
Anti-euro groups last night welcomed the results as proof Britain could prosper outside the new Euro-zone, while senior Tories claimed the government should stop trying to "bully" voters into accepting the landmark change. Dominic Cummings, of Business for Sterling, said: "People do not feel they have missed out and they know Britain can thrive outside the euro."................
Jan 6

Lib Dem Attacks Westminster Labour over Farming
The Scotsman

By Joe Quinn, Scottish Political Editor, PA News
A senior Holyrood Liberal Democrat today accused Labour politicians at Westminster of wanting to bring about farming job losses and a latter-day Highland "clearance."
The attack from George Lyon, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for agriculture, was unusual for the savagery displayed to a party with whom the Liberal Democrats are in coalition in Scotland.
Lib Dems, however, argued that the criticism was directed against Labour at Westminster, and was not to be taken as a criticism of policy within Scotland. Labour in Scotland declined to comment on the attack, but Scottish Nationalists claimed hillfarmers and crofters would not recognise Mr Lyon's "eulogy" to Ross Finnie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat rural development minister. Mr Lyon argued today that it was only Mr Finnie that "stood in the way" of Westminster destroying many of Scotland's rural communities. Mr Lyon claimed the Labour government at Westminster wanted to "get rid of" 50% of farmers and crofters, and slash vital support.
"It is quite clear to all farmers and crofters that the Labour agenda at Westminster is to get rid of half of farmers and crofters because they are unnecessary and unneeded," said Mr Lyon.
"Labour at Westminster have also made it crystal clear that they intend to slash vital support for our most fragile rural communities which would result in massive job losses and potentially a new Highland Clearance'."
He claimed that the English rural affairs department DEFRA was called "Deathra" in some crofting and farming communities and said: "Many crofting and farming leaders are now openly saying to me that it is only the Scottish Executive and Rural Affairs Minister, Ross Finnie, that stand between them and disaster."
But in the SNP's attack tonight, shadow agriculture minister Fergus Ewing said: "The deal struck by the Lib-Lab coalition for hillfarmers and crofters can more accurately be described in the words of Scottish Labour MP Calum MacDonald as a rotten deal."
Jan 5

Beckett calls for farm subsidy rethink
Telegraph

By Sarah Womack, Political Correspondent
) MARGARET BECKETT told farmers yesterday that in future they would need to justify the £3 billion a year that was spent on them by taxpayers.
Margaret Beckett at the at the Oxford Conference yesterday She told delegates at the Oxford Farming Conference that more subsidies must be directed towards environmental protection and the countryside rather than supporting food production.
But the message sparked Opposition accusations that what she said was meaningless until the European Common Agricultural Policy was reformed.
Mrs Beckett is also calling for CAP reform, but there is little sign that the European Union as a whole is prepared to do more than tinker with the present system.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary said: "Government has a responsibility to help the industry - but as a challenging partner in a vital business, not as a provider of endless subsidy."
"We should help the industry to do its business through our environmental and conservation agenda, not by subsidising the industry to produce goods not wanted in the marketplace."
She gave examples of farmers who were finding ways of creating new markets, by opening farm shops, diversification with tourism-related activities and setting up co-operatives.
Baroness Byford, the shadow Lords spokesman for agriculture, said Mrs Beckett had not spelt out how farmers should compete with cheaper, imported foods. Nor had she produced a solid framework for action as the industry awaited the policy commission report by Sir Don Curry. .....................
Jan 5

Market won't go for these little piggies
The Times

BY MARK COURT
INVESTORS in PPL Therapeutics, the Scottish biotechnology company that developed Dolly the cloned sheep, have endured a rollercoaster ride this week after the initial promise of its cloned piglets sparked controversy in the world's scientific community.
Yesterday PPL's shares, which trade on London's Stock Exchange, plunged 16 per cent after it emerged that Dolly had developed arthritis at the relatively young age of five, putting a question mark over the health of cloned livestock.
Jan 5

Britain's new role as force for good
The Times

BY TOM BALDWIN AND PHILIP WEBSTER
Blair speaks out while rows at home blight India mission
TONY BLAIR will today make a fresh attempt to put Britain at the heart of a new world order even as his latest diplomatic mission is threatened with being blown off course by rows over the euro and public services. In an important speech in Bangalore, India, the Prime Minister will proclaim that after losing an empire Britain has at last found a "modern foreign policy role" as a "force for good" in world affairs after the September 11 attacks.
Yesterday, however, he was left scrambling to salvage the battered credibility of the Government's euro policy following a senior Treasury aide's admission that the decision on British entry will be "political" rather than economic.
At the same time the Government continued to be battered on public services, with classroom assistants threatening strike action over pay, while an RMT dispute left up to 150,000 commuters shivering on platforms throughout southern England. .....................
Jan 5

MORLEY CONSULTS ON PLANS TO MODERNISE ANIMAL WELFARE
DEFRA Press Release

Plans to review, modernise and simplify outdated laws on animal welfare were unveiled today by Animal Welfare Minister Elliot Morley. Animal welfare groups, local authority representatives, courts, police and industry are to be consulted in what will be a far reaching review drawing together the environmental and industrial concerns of animal welfare.
DEFRA wants to hear views on the existing 11 Acts of Parliament governing the welfare of pets and farm animals. The Department is considering the possibility of a new animal welfare bill, pulling together current legislation and closing loopholes. Mr Morley said: "This is a broad and sensitive area of legislation on which we plan to consult widely and openly to make sure the law reflects the animal welfare needs of the 21st Century. This will be a lengthy process but we need to take our time and get it right so that any resulting changes stand the test of time. "The Protection of Animals Act dates back to 1911. It has been amended over the past 90 years, but its roots go back to the 19th Century. We need to have in place legislation that not only protects animals against physical abuse, but also recognises quality of life and physiological needs. "With the creation of DEFRA, most of the animal welfare laws are now under one roof. This provides a unique and timely opportunity to gather views, streamline and modernise outdated and unwieldy legislation.".........
Jan 2 posted Jan 5

Families worry about farming future
Farmers Weekly

THE government's commission on the future of farming, due to report at the end of this month, may be a damp squib, family farmers have warned. Michel Hart, chairman of the Small and Family Farms Alliance, said he was sceptical about what the commission's report would achieve.
"The terms of reference have tied it to the government's existing aims of Common Agricultural Policy reform and trade liberalisation," he said. "I think we needed a far more fundamental and radical rethink on the future direction of agriculture."
Jan 4

Beckett under fire at farm conference
Farmers'Weekly

By Tom Allen-Stevens
RURAL Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett fielded 30 minutes of questions from delegates at the Oxford Farming Conference. Delgates criticised her department, saying it was uncommitted to farming, issued burdensome regulations and maintained poor import controls. "Does the government have a policy on what proportion of goods should be produced in the UK?" asked Hampshire farmer Mark MacClay. A member of the National Association of Young Farmers' Clubs said change was hard when the government continually moved the goal posts. "How can you convince us to work with you when your commitment to farming is laughable?" asked Hampshire farmer Hugh Oliver-Bellasis. "We have suffered a lack of agrimoney and import controls and increased legislation on diffuse pollution and ploughing of grassland." But Mrs Beckett aggressively rebutted the accusations. ..............
Jan 4

New crackdown on BSE and scrapie
Farmers Weekly

THE government is stepping up efforts to detect BSE and scrapie under new rules which came into effect on 1 January. Farmers are required to report casualty cattle and fallen stock between 24 and 30 months, which will then be tested.
The move is part of a European Union programme to test more cattle for BSE, sparked by increasing incidence of the disease on the Continent. More than 50,000 casualty cattle and fallen stock over 30 months have already been tested since July 2001.
Scrapie testing in sheep is also being stepped up. A sample of 3000 fallen sheep and 20,000 sheep slaughtered at abattoirs will be tested for the disease that scientists fear could be masking BSE. Ministers are concerned that scrapie in sheep is under-reported and are desperate to get more accurate estimates of incidence. The government is under pressure to improve surveillance after the fiasco in which scientists mistakenly tested cattle instead of sheep brains for BSE.
Jan 4

Minister issues subsidy warning to farmers
Ananova

Margaret Beckett is warning farmers the Government will not subsidise them to produce unwanted goods.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister says taxpayers expect better value for the billions of pounds spent each year on agriculture. She told the Oxford Farming Conference subsidies must be directed towards helping the environment and countryside. Mrs Beckett said: "Demands on the budget for agricultural support are coming under greater scrutiny across not just the EU, but the world. The pressure to reduce market-distorting subsidies is probably at an all-time high.
"And with the pressure to reduce subsidies and curtail budgets comes the pressure to identify our real priorities - to choose where the funding should go, when it cannot and will not go everywhere." Mrs Beckett added: "Government has a responsibility to help the industry - but as a challenging partner in a vital business, not as a provider of endless subsidy.
"Surely the Government should help the industry to do its business and pay for what the nation requires of the industry through our environmental and conservation agenda, not by subsidising the industry to produce goods not wanted in the marketplace."
Mrs Beckett said the key role of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was to promote sustainable development.
She wants the industry to seek reform of the Common Agricultural Policy with a reduction in production-based support.
Defra claims resources could then be channelled into schemes for environmental improvement and the rural economy and give farmers new options for business development.
Jan 4

Beckett attacks farmers for complacency
The Times

BY VALERIE ELLIOTT, COUNTRYSIDE EDITOR
MARGARET BECKETT criticised farmers yesterday for their complacency in failing to take up free business advice offered by the Government in the wake of the foot-and-mouth epidemic. She said: "Some of them do not even think it is something worth doing. I find that quite staggering when we are all talking about the future of farming."
Mrs Beckett was also irritated by reports that some farmers were threatening to disrupt the food chain this spring, by boycotting sales to supermarkets in protest at what they see as poor prices.
She had no truck with such attitudes. "I am extremely sorry to hear that some farmers appear to want to attack the very people they need to rely on, the consumers," she said.
The Rural Affairs Secretary, in an interview with The Times before she addresses the Oxford Farming Conference today, said that after such "a terrible year" for farmers and rural communities, she expected them to take full advantages of the opportunities available to help them.

After three clear months without a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth, now was the right moment for farmers to think ahead and to prepare for the return to normal trading, including exporting to foreign markets. She said that farmers must become more aggressive and chase new customers if they were to survive. .....
Jan 4

Maize Crisis Worsens
Nairobi Nation

The maize glut in Kenya's bread basket districts worsened yesterday with the revelation that the National Cereals and Produce Board can only buy a small fraction of the maize farmers want to off-load.
The board can only buy 800,000 bags of maize while farmers are waiting to sell some five million bags. Farmers in Uasin Gishu, Pokot, Trans Nzoia and Marakwet districts complained that they had been unable to sell their maize to the various NCPB depots due to stringent conditions set by the board. Others complained that the price of between Sh990 and Sh1,060 being paid for a 90 kilogramme bag by the board, especially in North Rift and Nyanza, was too low compared to production costs.
The sale is crucial to the farmers especially at this time when they need to raise school fees, prepare their farms and buy inputs for the next planting season between March and April. Some of the conditions set by the board include limiting moisture content to less than 13.5 per cent, one per cent foreign matter, one per cent broken matter and two per cent rotten, diseased and discoloured grains. Last season, when the stringent conditions were not in play, rotten, diseased and discoloured grains of up to five per cent were acceptable.
An estimated Sh800 million has been set aside by the board to buy maize from farmers who have for the past two days been queuing at various depots. The stringent conditions set by the board have raised a hue and cry among the farmers and Members of Parliament who have seen the move as an attempt to lock out majority of the farmers.......
Jan 4

Crisis-hit farmers go on fact-finding trip to Ghana
This is Bradford

by Julia Murfin
MALHAMDALE farmers Chris and Jane Hall are going to Africa to visit other farmers experiencing difficult times. Christian Aid has arranged the trip to bring together farmers hit by foot and mouth in this country and those in the developing world who are also experiencing great hardship, albeit of a different nature. The project is the brainchild of Malham resident Judy Rogers, who is about to start work as Christian Aid's area co-ordinator. She said: "The idea is to share their experiences and see that other people in other parts of the world experience similar difficulties. They are not alone.
"The trip will mark the anniversary of the first outbreak of foot and mouth in a positive way - to try to bring out some insights about farmers are coping with the situation and to show that hopefully they are coming out the other end." Chris, a churchwarden at Kirkby Malham Parish Church, and Jane will fly to Ghana where they will visit rice farmer Meiri Seidu whose business has been decimated by cheap imports.
The couple, who farm at Airton, will share their experiences of a terrible year, during which they lost their 1,475 beef cattle and sheep in a contiguous cull. They will be accompanied by a crew from Yorkshire TV who will make a film to be shown on Calendar news to coincide with the anniversary of the first case of foot and mouth. .......................
. Clare Sheehy, of Christian Aid, explained: "Both rice farmer Meiri Seidu and Chris have suffered an economic bereavement resulting in a change to their way of life. Meiri's position is the subject of a major international campaign. "Meiri, with the little resources and tools available to her, is trying to compete with the subsidised might of the US Rice Industry. People who govern international trade should protect Meiri. "Christian Aid is calling for a ban on subsidised exports. We are not against subsidies within the UK, but subsidising exports mean that Meiri and other farmers in developing countries are forced to compete. "The basic issue is that with something as important as food it is important that the poorest don't become reliant on subsidised imports. Otherwise, what would happen when it stops? It is very important that people are given the change to be self sufficient."
Jan 4

Farmer arrested in 'rave rage' standoff
The Times

BY LEWIS SMITH

A FARMER who was trying to evict 70 ravers from his land was arrested by a police officer he had called in to help. It was the second time in a month that Graeme Stephen, 40, a financier, had found his Essex property invaded by illegal partygoers. Mr Stephen had unplugged the revellers' generator and was in the midst of a stand-up row with them when a sergeant arrested him to prevent violence breaking out.
He is the second farmer recently to find police powerless to help them to deal with ravers because of a loophole in the law. Earlier this week David Benton was threatened with arrest when he grabbed a raver by the scruff of the neck at his farm in Moorby, Lincolnshire.
A spokesman for Essex Police said: "We had one police sergeant, 70 ravers and one unhappy landowner. The sergeant tried to calm the situation, but believed it was getting out of hand. We have every sympathy for people whose property is invaded, but as it stands we are restricted by the law and our first priority is preventing anybody getting hurt."
Jan 4

Children turn backs on farming
Telegraph

YOUNG people are turning away in growing numbers from the farming industry that has supported generations of their families, according to a survey published yesterday.
Forty two per cent of farmers said their children did not want to join the family business when they were older, while a further 23 per cent said their children were as yet undecided.
Only one in three farmers with children said their children definitely wanted to farm, according to the survey, conducted by the Farmers' Union of Wales.
Six hundred farmers in Wales were interviewed for the survey, the results of which were described as "worrying" by the union's president, Bob Parry.
12 October 2001: Family farm profits 'are down to £50 a week'
Jan 4

Queen names her Jubilee charities
The Times

BY ALAN HAMILTON
THE QUEEN has named five charities that will benefit from her Golden Jubilee celebrations. Buckingham Palace asks that any money-raising events to mark the Queen's 50 years on the throne should include a donation to the nominated causes: the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution; Barnardo's; Cruse Bereavement Care; the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association; and I CAN, a national education charity for children with speech and language difficulties. The last is a reminder that her father George VI had to overcome a serious stammer, while the first recognises the suffering of farmers during the foot-and-mouth epidemic.
Jan 4

County call for foot and mouth probe
Luton on Line

Public inquiry needed into devastating outbreak Beds County Council is calling for a full public inquiry into last year s foot-and-mouth crisis. Restrictions were finally lifted across the UK on Tuesday, except in Northumbria.
Here the Conservative-led county council is lobbying the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Margaret Beckett, to commission an independent inquiry.
Executive member, Coun Richard Stay said: "Despite managing to remain disease free in Bedfordshire, the impact of the outbreak on local farmers was immense.
"This council has expressed its full and active support for the farming community within the county and will therefore be making representation to Defra to request a full public inquiry to ensure we learn the lessons from this crisis."
He reminded a meeting of all county councillors of the then Environment Minister, Michael Meacher s statement in April that a wide-ranging public inquiry would be held to ascertain the cause of the outbreak and establish how to prevent another.
Jan 3

The fight for the facts about the foot and mouth disaster
Western Morning News

took a major step forward yesterday when a date was revealed for court action that could lead to the beginning of a full public inquiry. The hearing, backed by the Western Morning News, the Western Mail in Cardiff and the Farmers Weekly magazine, could mean ministers being compelled to give evidence about their handling of the crisis. It comes as Downing Street dismissed a letter - signed by the editors of all three publications plus The Journal in Newcastle - highlighting a petition calling for a public inquiry which was signed by more than 100,000 people 40,000 of them WMN readers. The two paragraph reply from number 10 Downing street, simply referred the matter to the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs.
WMN Editor Barrie Williams last night described the response as a 'cynical smack in the teeth for all those people who felt so strongly about foot and mouth that they signed the petition'.
He said: "if anything, it's just further proof why there must be a public inquiry. Number 10 just doesn't want to know about foot and mouth."
"This letter is typical. It's the usual Tony Blair evasiveness and dismissiveness of people in the countryside. He doesn't want scrutiny because he knows it could show up his own Government's cruel and chaotic handling of the crisis. But we're not going to let the matter rest, which is why we launched the petition and why we're backing the court action."
Jan 3

Tesco faces farmers' blockade
Farmers' Weekly

PROTEST group Farmers for Action has pledged to blockade distribution depots belonging to Tesco unless the supermarket agrees to talks. Farmers for Action chairman David Handley said Tesco faced the biggest mass action since the fuel protests unless talks were agreed by 8 January. He wants talks with Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy to secure better prices for British farmers who supply the supermarket. Mr Handley claims that Tesco - Britain's most profitable retailer which made £1 billion profit last year - forces farmers to sell produce at a loss. Sir Terry, who was knighted in the New Year honours list, has refused to meet Mr Handley, preferring to deal with the National Farmers' Union.
But Mr Handley said: "We are not going to tolerate being treated like this by someone who has been knighted." He added: "We are ready to step up our action to match the fuel protests."
Tesco has agreed to abide by a voluntary code of practice drawn up in an attempt to improve the relationship between farmers and supermarkets. But farmers claim the code is open to wide interpretation, especially in areas such as changes to prices and payments and consumer complaints.
Jan 3

Farmers seek funds for virus case
Farmers' Weekly

By Tom Allen-Stevens
A GROUP of farmers at the Oxford Farming Conference is raising funds for a judicial review in a bid to force a public inquiry into foot-and-mouth.
Robert Persey, a farmer from Honiton, Devon, launched the fund-raising campaign under the slogan "We seek the truth" on Wednesday (3 January).
"The government doesn't want a national public inquiry because it doesn't want Tony Blair to have to give evidence," he claimed. Mr Persey was supported by a group of about 20 Young Farmers outside the conference centre from Bicester, Aylesbury and Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The judicial review, to be heard in London next month, will decide whether the government should be forced to hold a public inquiry into the crisis.
Mr Persey said: "We need 1000 farmers and supporters, all wearing campaign T-shirts at the High Court when the case is held." A petition for a public inquiry last year attracted 126,000 signatures. It was backed by FARMERS WEEKLY, Western Morning News, Western Mail, Horse & Hound and The Journal, Newcastle. Three of the publications, including FARMERS WEEKLY, are underwriting some of the cost of the judicial review to be heard in mid-February.
Mr Persey said he was asking farmers to make donations and buy T-shirts to fund the shortfall, which will only be needed if the case is lost. The government has refused to hold a public inquiry, saying it would be too costly and take too long. Instead, it has announced a series of investigations.
But Mr Persey said an investigation into the lessons to be learned from foot-and-mouth, chaired by Dr Iain Anderson, would be a farce. Civil servant servants would be reluctant to anything that could undermine the authority of their bosses, he added.
Jan 3

Farm crisis costs reach £500m
BBC Wales

Farmers in Wales have received £56m in compensation The on-going cost of the foot-and-mouth crisis on farming and tourism in Wales has run into hundreds of millions of pounds, the Welsh Assembly has revealed. Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones said the total bill for compensating farmers and testing and culling animals - excluding civil service staff costs - totalled £107m.
A further £65m was set aside in rural aid packages by the assembly for crisis-hit farmers last July. Mr Jones announced the breakdown of the costs in written answers to assembly questions.
In addition, the Wales Tourist Board has reported the industry's losses last year totalled £280m. In total, the crisis in Wales is estimated to have cost nearly £500m. The cost of foot-and-mouth in Wales: Farmer compensation and operational costs - £107,678,406
Cost to tourism -£280,000,000
Crisis aid package - £65,000,000
Mr Jones underlined that the costs were the direct responsibility of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), in London, and not that of the assembly administration.
All of the crisis aid for the Welsh farms announced last summer comes direct from the assembly's budget. Some £45m was new money, with the remaining £20m reallocated from existing schemes. Wales saw 118 confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth disease - many in Powys, mid Wales - which effectively closed down the farming and tourism industries last year. The government lifted emergency restrictions last November and some livestock markets have re-opened.
Exports of lamb to Europe - a lucrative market for farmers - have slowly resumed. Last autumn, the UK Rural Business Campaign - led by a Powys-based group - said it planned to launch legal action against the government for losses incurred.
Jan 3

Cloning firm shares soar
The Scotsman

Andrew Denholm
Five little pigs who hold the key to transplant breakthrough THE use of animal organs in life-saving transplants has come a step closer with the historic birth of five cloned piglets. The five animals, born in a laboratory in the US on Christmas Day, are the first to have been bred with a distinctive genetic make-up which scientists hope will reduce the risk of their organs being rejected by humans. PPL, a commercial offshoot of the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, which also produced Dolly the Sheep, said the breakthrough was a major step towards the routine production of animal organs and cells for humans - known as xenotransplantation. Shares in PPL soared by 44 per cent on news of the breakthrough, increasing the value of the company to about £94 million. The birth of the five female piglets, named Noel, Angel, Star, Joy and Mary, could also pave the way for pioneering treatment of diabetes, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. ..........
Dr Donald Bruce, from the Church of Scotland's society, religion and technology project, said: "The church gives a cautious welcome to today's announcement. "The prospect of using pig organs to save many human lives, or to improve substantially the quality of life of dialysis patients or diabetics, is attractive from the viewpoint of human medicine. "However, it raises serious ethical issues over the use of animals and a major question of safety." However, Dr Andre Menache, president of Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine, said xenotransplantation still presented a "Frankenstein scenario". He said: "It seems that all this money and time is being invested in animal experimentation when more and more successes are being made in more viable alternatives, such as stem cell production. "We are opposed to xenotransplantation from a public health point of view, from a moral point of view and from an animal cruelty point of view.
Jan 3

Farmer 'will use violence' if ravers return
Ananova

A farmer says he is prepared to use violence to stop people breaking into his property and holding rave parties. David Benton claims police did nothing as almost 100 ravers took over a turkey shed at his Lincolnshire home on New Year's Eve. Mr Benton, of Moorby, says 10-ton lorries crashed through a gate on his farm delivering disco equipment and alcohol.
The 44-year-old said: "I will defend my property, and I will use violence if I have to if this happens again. The police have already said they will arrest me if I do." "They set up their disco equipment and were having a party," he said. "I called the police and when they arrived they said they could not do anything because it could cause a public order incident." And he added: "It was like being a farmer in Zimbabwe - the police stood outside the gate while inside people were smashing up my property and they were doing nothing about it." He estimates the rave-goers caused more than £600 worth of damage when they broke down a gate and tore open the doors to the turkey shed. They had even brought a portable generator to power lights and music equipment.
Inspector Dick Holmes, of Lincolnshire police says officers can only intervene to break up rave parties if certain criteria are being met. He said: "The law states that there must be more than 100 people in the open air, causing a public disruption - those conditions were not met in this case." And he added: "While we have every sympathy with Mr Benton he will obviously be on a very sticky wicket if he does take any direct action in the future."
Jan 3

New website to help crisis-hit farmers
Ananova

A website helping crisis-hit farmers fight back following the foot-and-mouth outbreak has been launched.
The mass slaughter of animals and restrictions on moving livestock have left thousands of farmers struggling to make a living. Two tourist boards in Cumbria have put their heads together to try to find a way of helping rebuilt the UK's struggling agricultural economy. For many years, even before the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, farmers across the country had been turning their minds from crops to camps and from cream cheese to cream teas. Following one of the most difficult years in recent times for agricultural businesses in general, more and more farmers are looking to tap into other sources of income.
To help them, the North West and Cumbria tourist boards have come together to back a new project advising farmers on how to branch out into other areas of business, while also attracting more people back to the countryside. Under the scheme farmers across the country who offer bed and breakfast country holidays and short breaks are being connected to some hi-tech help to bolster their businesses. Farm Tourism Matters has hints for farmers aiming to capitalise on the 248 million day trips made to the British countryside each year.
As well as having tips for those starting out, the two tourist boards are hoping the site www.farmtourism-matters.org will become a useful forum for rural businesspeople to exchange ideas and best practice.
Catherine Lawrence, project co-ordinator of Farm Tourism North West, who is spearheading the campaign, said visitor spending in the countryside injected a massive £3.8 billion into the rural economy each year, supporting some 340,000 jobs.
Jan 3

Isolation fears as Euro rolls in
Farmers' Weekly

By Alistair Driver
BRITISH farmers could find themselves increasingly isolated now the Euro has finally become legal tender, economists have warned. The introduction of the single currency across 12 European countries could hurt British farmers, according to the National Farmers' Union. Policy director Martin Howarth believes the European Union food chain will become increasingly integrated. Many supermarkets and food processors are likely to prefer the security of the Euro over Sterling, he said.
UK farmers will also lose out on the benefits of being able to compare input prices from Dublin to Dresden, added Mr Howarth. "There is a danger that the EU food chain will build up within the Euro zone and we will find ourselves outside looking in," he said. "We will not have that advantage of price transparency."
The scrapping of the agrimoney system that compensated farmers for currency changes has left British farmers at the mercy of the strong Pound. Francis Mordaunt, head of business research at Andersons farm business consultants, said a weaker Pound would benefit UK farmers. But he warned that British farmers could find it harder to trade in the long-run if the UK stays out of the Euro.
"The UK will be disadvantaged by not being fully a part of Europe. There are likely to be barriers to trade as long as we are outside." Sean Rickard, lecturer at the Cranfield School of Management, said the decision not to tie sterling to the Euro had "crucified" the industry. "The arrival of the Euro, if everything goes according to plan, might just see a change in public attitude and a change of policy from Tony Blair. "It would be very good news if we join," he added.
David Turner, director of agriculture at PricewaterhouseCoopers, believes it is likely to be 2007 at the earliest before the UK joins the Euro. Mr Turner said he felt the Prime Minister would wait until after the next election to call a referendum on whether to join the single currency. "In the meantime, UK farming could fall off the edge of the cliff if the Pound gets stronger," he said.
Jan 2

Beckett to address farm conference
Farmers' Weekly

RURAL Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett is expected to outline her vision for the future of farming at the Oxford Farming Conference. The two-day annual conference, which begins on Thursday (3 January), is called Building Our New Industry.
Mrs Beckett has been asked to outline the role she believes farming should take within the rural economy after the foot-and-mouth crisis. After 90 days without a confirmed case of foot-and-mouth, there is a growing feeling that 2002 will be a turning point for the countryside.
The three-month gap, which passed on 29 December, is one condition the UK had to meet before it can be formally declared foot-and-mouth free. It paves the way for export restrictions and other control measures to be lifted over the next few months. Ministers, farm leaders and countryside groups are eager to tempt visitors back into the countryside in a bid to kick-start a recovery.
A campaign carrying the message that the countryside is open for business in 2002 is planned for early this year. Cumbrian farmer Alistair Wannop, who will also address delegates, said his county would rise like a phoenix from the flames after the epidemic. Meat and Livestock Commission chairman Peter Barr will reveal how consumer confidence can be rebuilt in the British meat industry.
Jan 2

Sheep cull fuels fear of return of foot and mouth
Guardian

As Northumberland is about to be declared disease free, a prized flock is slaughtered as a precaution Peter Hetherington Regional affairs editor
Deep in the North Tyne valley some talked ominously of foot and mouth returning. Official reassurances from the department for rural affairs that 2,100 sheep from Donkleywood farm had been culled simply as a precaution fell on deaf ears. Only a few hours into the new year, the steady stream of lorries carrying the carcasses along the narrow, slushy road from Bellingham to Tyneside and a disposal site beyond evoked memories of a horror many thought had been consigned to 2001.
Martin Weeks, who has farmed the 600 upland acres of Donkleywood for 19 years, could find no words to describe the slaughter of a prized flock just as Northumberland was about to be labelled disease free by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). "I am not finding this easy and cannot talk about it," he said. "I am extremely upset." With just 25 cattle left to tend, he did not want to comment on Defra's decision to slaughter his sheep because routine blood tests revealed two of them had foot and mouth antibodies, indicating they may have contracted the disease and recovered. They had their rules, he said.
But Mr Weeks's silence spoke volumes about the shadow of foot and mouth returning to a county where tight movement restrictions in a bio-security zone south of Donkleywood were lifted less than two months ago.
Mass culling on New Year's Day, on top of the 3.9m animals slaughtered over the past 10 months on almost 9,400 farms, carried a certain symbolism in the local pub, the Hollybush Arms. Farming neighbours of Mr Weeks had little to celebrate. "We have seen this all before," said one, who recalled the re-emergence of the disease in the south of the county late last August. "The government have wanted this to go away and tried to make sure it did," said another. "We are keeping our fingers crossed." Another added: "There's something not quite right about this." But Defra insisted the cull was not a new outbreak. "There is no evidence of active disease at present," said Keith Raine, director of the Disease Emergency Control Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. "The farm is being treated as a dangerous contact, not an infected premise. What we have found is exposure to the disease at some point in the past so we are slaughtering the flock as a precaution."
Such reassurance, however, fuels more speculation. Defra insists that, so far, there is no evidence of foot and mouth elsewhere in the area, al though further tests will be carried out. But the national Foot and Mouth Group, comprising vets and countryside campaigners, claimed last night that secret culling was still taking place in several parts of the country.
Since the last official outbreak at Whygill Head farm, near Appleby in Cumbria on September 30, it says the slaughter figures nationally have risen by 113,395. "They are going up again," insisted Valerie Lusmore, a mathematician who advises the group and regularly monitors Defra statistics. "They are almost always animals with antibodies and they seem to be shifting figures around, but the trend is upwards."
But any talk of a statistical conspiracy is dismissed by ministers and by the National Farmers' Union. Its Northumberland branch said yesterday that with 250,000 blood tests on animals, only 12 had been shown to be positive since the end of November.
That is little comfort to Martin Weeks in Donkleywood and his neighbours in the North Tyne valley where the waiting, and watching, has begun again.
Jan 2

A better year ahead for Brown than Blair
The Times

TIM HAMES
Power is not unlike that fateful drink too far at a New Year's Eve celebration. It is obvious that you have had it only after it has been consumed and by then it is too late to wish that you had organised matters differently. The past 12 months have seen exceptional power placed in the hands of the Prime Minister. The combination of a domestic crisis (foot-and-mouth), for which he assumed personal command; a second sweeping election victory for Labour, with him at the helm; a reorganisation of Downing Street along explicitly presidential lines; and then his role after September 11 have pushed his personal ratings back towards stratospheric levels and made the words "Tony wants" once more the most significant phrase in Whitehall. Yet, as surely as the new year has replaced the old, this Prime Ministerial omnipotence is waning. On reflection, Tony Blair was probably at the peak of his power last October. He dashed around the world at the behest of the American President and dominated the headlines. He was, if he had recognised it then, in a unique position to impose his will on Cabinet, party and country.
But 2002 will witness a return to business as usual. Mr Blair will find his time increasingly absorbed by the mundanities of domestic politics. He will watch in frustration as the arrival of the single currency fails to shift national sentiment towards monetary union. He will discover that his hour of influence on the White House has slipped by as US foreign policy shifts towards a new and still underestimated form of assertive unilateralism. Like Cinderella, he will discover that having enjoyed the Ball, the chimes have struck and all he is left with are the memories and a pumpkin. ..........
Iain Duncan Smith and Charles Kennedy may find this year that they are strategically outmanoeuvred by a resurgent Chancellor holding all the cards and left with a sense of irrelevance. If it is any comfort to them, the Prime Minister might well enter 2003 harbouring similar misgivings.
Jan 2

France in breach of Community law over ban on British beef
The Times

COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES Commission of the European Communities (supported by United Kingdom, intervener) v French Republic Case C-1/00 Before C. J. Rodrmguez Iglesias, President and Judges P. Jann, F. Macken, N. Colneric, S. von Bahr, C. Gulmann, D. A. O. Edward, A. La Pergola, J.-P. Puissochet, L. Sevsn, M. Wathelet, R. Schintgen and V. Skouris Advocate General J. Mischo (Opinion September 20) Judgment December 13, 2001
By refusing to permit the sale of correctly marked and labelled British beef in French territory, France was in breach of Community law.
The Court of Justice of the European Communities so held in an action by the Commission under article 226 EC for a declaration that France had failed to fulfil its obligations under (i) Council Decision 98/256/EC of March 16, 1998 (OJ 1999 L195, p42) concerning emergency measures to protect against bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("BSE"), in the version as amended in Commission Decision 98/692/EC of November 25, 1998 (OJ 1998 L328, p28) and (ii) Commission Decision 1999/514/EC of July 23, 1999 setting the date on which dispatch from the United Kingdom of bovine products under the date-based export scheme might commence by virtue of article 6(5) of Decision 98/256. .................. On those grounds, inter alia, the European Court:
1 Declared that, by refusing to adopt the measures necessary in order to comply with (i) Decision 98/256 as amended, in particular article 6 and annex III, and (ii) Decision 1999/514, in particular article 1, the French Republic, in particular by refusing to permit the marketing in its territory after December 30, 1999 of products subject to the date-based export scheme which were correctly marked or labelled, had failed to fulfil its obligations under those two decisions, in particular their provisions referred to;
2 Dismissed the remainder of the application;
3 Ordered the French Republic to bear two-thirds of the costs and the Commission to bear the other third; and
4 Ordered the United Kingdom to bear its own costs.
Jan 2

COMMENT 22nd/29th December 2001
Vet Record

.....Methods available for controlling infectious diseases of animals have been called into question, as have systems of livestock production and the place of agriculture in the wider economy. In political terms, the impact of the epidemic can be measured by the fact that, as a result of the outbreaks, local elections and the General Election were postponed for the first time since the Second World War.
Shortcomings in the resources available for state veterinary provision and research into animal diseases have been highlighted, and questions have been raised about the way in which science is translated into policy and policies are translated into action in the field. Some of these questions are being addressed in the various inquiries that have been set up to look into the outbreaks (albeit that some people feel that one, all-embracing inquiry might be more effective) and it is to be hoped that answers are both found and applied.
The impact of the FMD epidemic has been felt far beyond the UK, as highlighted at an EC conference in Brussels last week, at which delegates considered the consequences of the outbreaks and the options for preventing and controlling the disease in the future. The need to develop alternative strategies was emphasised particularly strongly by Mr Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, agriculture minister in the Netherlands, which suffered the largest number of outbreaks after the UK and where public reaction to the slaughter of animals was, if anything, even greater.
Mr David Byrne, the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, signalled his intention to introduce a new directive on the issue early next year, and said that the EU would be looking for a new agreement on how to deal with FMD internationally by 2003. Reiterating a view expressed by many over the past 10 months, he remarked, 'It is simply inconceivable that we could ever allow a repeat of the crisis that occurred this year.'
Dec 31

England set to be declared free of foot-and-mouth
Ananova

Chief Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore is to receive the results of tests which could see England declared free of foot-and-mouth disease after more than 10 months. Government vets worked through the weekend in four regions of the country still classed as being "at risk". They carried out blood tests on farm animals to ensure that they are rid of the disease, three months after the last recorded case. It is hoped that Mr Scudamore would be able to declare Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland foot-and-mouth free early this week, clearing the way for England to be declared free of foot-and-mouth. A spokeswoman for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said a "massive effort" had been put in to complete the tests and prepare reports on the four counties for Mr Scudamore. "The three months guideline is just one element of all this. Each region has its own peculiarities and the Chief Veterinary Officer has to take a view on each case," she said.
The last case of foot-and-mouth was confirmed in Cumbria on September 30, eight months after the start of the outbreak, which was the most serious animal disease epidemic in the UK in modern times and led to the slaughter of millions of animals. If disease-free status is achieved, the next step for many in the farming community will be the relaxation of restrictions imposed at the start of the outbreak. This is expected in the worst-hit areas by mid-February, and will involve the re-opening of cattle markets and the general licensing of animal movements.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have already been declared disease free.
Dec 31

Mexicans fume over genetically modified corn
Times of India

EXICO CITY: In a cautionary tale about the difficulty of controlling genetically modified plants, corn researchers in Mexico went ever higher into remote mountain villages looking for natural varieties of the 4,000-year-old crop. Time after time, they couldn't find them. Samples revealed that just a few years of unlabeled U.S. imports had transferred modified genes to local corn in the southern state of Oaxaca - even though planting genetically modified crops is banned in this country, the birthplace of corn.
The discovery, confirmed in the science magazine Nature this month, caused outrage among Mexicans, whose ancestors believed the gods created Man from an ear of corn.
"It's a worse attack on our culture than if they had torn down the cathedral of Oaxaca and built a McDonald's over it," said Hector Magallone, an activist with environmental group Greenpeace. There is no evidence that genetically modified grains harm those who eat them. But some scientists worry that genetically modified strains could displace or contaminate Mexico's genetic warehouse of over 60 corn varieties - a wealth that enriches staple crops worldwide and includes wild varieties that have yet to be cataloged.
The accidental spread of laboratory-inserted genes, scientists fear, could allow aggressive plants to crowd out other varieties, reducing biological diversity. Diversity is prized as a hedge against disease, pests and climate change. While some plant strains may be vulnerable to one disease, others may have natural immunity that enables them to survive. The case has drawn international attention. In an open letter, 80 scientists from a dozen countries have asked the Mexican government to stop the genetic contamination.
Dec 31

Japanese researchers create prion antibody to help CJD, BSE
Kyodo News

SAPPORO, Dec. 30, Kyodo - Scientists in Hokkaido said Sunday they have created a unique protein that links only with an abnormal protein called prion believed to cause mad cow disease and a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) that is associated with it.
The researchers at the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, headed by Morikazu Shinagawa, said the discovery may help diagnosis and treatment of CJD and mad cow, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). A new test method on BSE will likely be developed using the antibody, they said.
According to Motohiro Horiuchi, an assistant professor on the team, a Swiss researcher announced in 1997 the discovery of an antibody to an abnormal prion. But the researcher failed to provide further successful test data.
The three-dimensional structures of an abnormal prion are still unknown, but an analysis of the molecular structure of the antibody is expected to shed light on the matter, the researchers said. Three cows have been confirmed with BSE in Japan since September.
Dec 31

Campaigns for justice can still be won
Sunday Telegraph Booker's Notebook

AT the end of the year I reflect sadly on how many battles that I have reported in this column seem to wind on without resolution. One of the weirdest battles of 2001, for instance, was that over the vaccination of animals against foot and mouth disease.
On one hand a phalanx of the world's leading veterinary experts, led by Professor Fred Brown, Dr Simon Barteling and Dr Paul Sutmoller, tirelessly made the case for a vaccination policy that could have saved Britain from much of its worst ever farming disaster.
Yet on Friday's BBC Today programme, the Government's chief scientist, Professor David King - whose expertise is "surface chemistry" - was yet again allowed by the presenter James Naughtie to trot out all those tired objections to vaccination that are dismissed by the real experts as being based on no more than scientific ignorance.
Change, however, may be on the way. Earlier this month, at a two-day international conference in Brussels, it was clear that the British team, led by Margaret Beckett, the Secretary of State for the Environment, was now almost totally isolated in its hostility to vaccination.
It was the British who, in 1990, persuaded Brussels to drop the policy of routine vaccination which in 30 years had made the European Community disease free.
As David Byrne, the Commissioner in charge of foot and mouth policy, made clear, however, there is no way that the EU could accept any repetition of the catastrophic mass-slaughter of healthy animals which marked the 2001 epidemic in Britain.
Mrs Beckett and Professor King may soon find they are forced to accept vaccination regardless. It will be fascinating to see just how quickly their objections melt away once the policy line from the top has changed.....

Thank you, readers

BY ancient ritual, as another year ends I should like to thank all those readers who have sent in such encouraging letters in 2001, not all of whom have had a proper reply. In particular this year I have had several hundred often harrowing letters from farmers and their wives facing the ordeal of the foot and mouth crisis, or rather the Government's grotesquely incompetent and arrogant response to it.
I should also like to thank those readers who so generously contributed more than £60,000 towards the Metric Martyrs Defence Fund, and to assure them that, when those Appeal Court judges have finally scratched their heads long enough to come up with a judgment, it seems just possible they may not be wholly disappointed by the outcome.
Meanwhile a Happy New Year to you all.
Dec 30

Mean Fields: Jonathan Miller: Bury this rural myth in concrete
Sunday Times

Rupert the ram is in with the ewes and has been diligent in his work. So in five months we will have baby sheep. I am not sure why I have allowed myself to be talked into permitting this as the last thing I need is any more sheep. After the holocaust of the year, and the emergence of Defra, the reorganised department of rural terrorism, there is hardly much point in carrying on with the ludicrous farce of agriculture.
.............. Here is the situation, Peter: the British farm economy is, broadly speaking, in two estates. There are the masochistic, foolish and self-deluded who carry on farming though they could make more money scanning Argentine corned beef in Tesco and without getting covered in manure. These people, who are frequently charming and resourceful, receive nothing but obstruction for their efforts, other than the psychic reward of being close to nature. Then there are the big subsidy farmers, represented by the National Farmers' Union, comprising less than 20% of the farmers and receiving 80% of the subsidies. These subsidies are typically paid for these people to do terrible things with their animals, to grow crops saturated in chemicals and to stuff their wallets with cash from consumers who are the captives of a gigantic, perverse and corrupt agrisubsidy empire. These are the people who gave us BSE and the foot and mouth catastrophe. You can recognise them in the country because they are the ones driving new four-wheel-drives paid for by Defra. .....
Dec 30

Calves slaughtered over veal-crate ban
Sunday Times

HUNDREDS of thousands of newborn calves are being killed each year as a result of animal welfare laws and restrictions on exports after the BSE and foot and mouth crises, writes John Elliott. Previously, the animals would have been turned into veal or exported. But the ban on the use of veal crates, phased in during the 1990s, has meant that about 200,000 animals that would previously have been required for the industry have instead been killed at birth. A further 370,000 a year used to be sent abroad despite vocal protests from animal rights activists at the Channel ports, often for veal production in France or Holland. They are now slaughtered instead as they have no market value. ...................... A spokesman for the RSPCA said that, compared with a short life in a veal crate, an early death for bobby calves was "the lesser of two evils". The 40,000 calves raised for veal each year used to spend their short lives tethered in small cages until the practice was banned. ........
Dec 30

Country diary: the cull continues
Telegraph

(Filed: 29/12/2001) RWF Poole is aghast at Defra's behaviour
WERE you not all mightily impressed as to how, the very moment Mr Blair declared "The War Against Terrorism" (what an interesting acronym that makes) foot and mouth seemed to disappear from the world's radar screens? Did Ma Beckett and her boys wave a magic wand?
Many of you will remember Bob the Contractor and the extracts from his diary that made such painful reading. I am glad to say that Bob is well and still keeping his diary and will continue to do so while the cull continues.
"Cull? What cull?" I hear you cry. How can there still be murder afoot when our wonderful Government has found time to stop the virus just as efficiently as it is doing away with the Mad Mullahs? That is really two questions and the answer to both is that it (the Government) has not. Just as it papered over "domestic terrorism", so it is attempting to paper over foot and mouth by writing up new infections as "DCs" (Dangerous Contacts) and "SOSs" (Slaughter on Suspicion). How does it get away with this? The answer in one word is "intimidation". Farmers won't talk because they won't get paid. The same goes for the contractors and the vets. The vets are in double jeopardy, because by turning a blind eye they are ipso facto guilty of "professional misconduct", which could get them drummed out of the proverbial Brownies.
I heard what Bob told me and shook my head. It was not that I did not believe him; it was just that I did not see how Defra could hope to get away with such egregious behaviour. This was especially so as Defra had just given the go-ahead for hunting to start again, albeit so wrapped in red tape that there will be enough going spare to plait the mane of every hunter in the country. It was then that the ghastly penny dropped and just at the same time I received a most interesting document.
I have never tried to wrestle with the Defra website. I have been told that it is totally impenetrable and, anyway, I reckoned that any organisation that issues map references for farms that puts them on the Dogger Bank is unlikely to issue accurate figures. However, some people are made of sterner stuff. Tucked away somewhere in England is a professional analyst who decided to untangle the sticky threads of the Defra web and produce a chart of his findings. I must emphasise that all these figures were taken from the Defra web and are therefore in the public domain.
Somehow or other, a copy of this chart landed on my desk. It apparently shows the numbers of animals slaughtered for reasons of foot and mouth during the month of November. I am definitely not a professional analyst and, indeed, I am dyscalculic. However, as far as I can make out, the numbers slaughtered on infected premises during that month decreased by 10,349. This should be encouraging, except that we have heard nothing of these infected premises.
Be that as it may, the total number of animals - sheep, pigs, goats deer and "others" - slaughtered in November showed an increase of a staggering 62,496. Only cattle showed a decrease. Of these figures, sheep (39,840) and pigs (23,674) make up the bulk. Most of these were slaughtered as DCs on both "Contiguous" and "Non-Contiguous Premises", "contiguous" meaning "bordering an infected premises". By now I expect that you are as confused as I am and asking the question: what infected premises? And, if they are still about, why has Defra allowed hunting to start again? I fear the answer to that - it is the ghastly penny that dropped. Defra must know that its cover-up is paper thin and, when it tears and the virus pops out again, the wicked fox-hunters will make a perfect scapegoat to be slaughtered.
Dec 29

Visit the countryside, Britons told
The Times

BY VALERIE ELLIOTT, COUNTRYSIDE EDITOR
A NEW campaign to encourage people to visit the countryside is to be launched by the Government in the new year. There have been no new cases of foot-and-mouth disease for three months, but many rural firms are on the brink of bankruptcy. Ministers want to encourage more day-trips; they also want families to choose walking and exploring holidays in Britain during February half-term week. Owners of heritage properties are being urged to open their houses and gardens earlier to extend the tourism season.
Rural campaign groups and MPs, however, are demanding that the Government also grants longer tax holidays and VAT and business rate deferrals to allow firms to continue trading until incomes return to normal. The Country Land and Business Association is also calling for an overhaul of the tax regime for the agriculture industry to give farmers more incentive to start new rural enterprises. For example, under the rules farmers and landowners lose relief from inheritance tax if they start a new business in farm buildings.
Peter Ainsworth, Conservative Rural Affairs spokesman, said: "We must give more help to rural firms as the package so far is inadequate and fails to understand the long term impact of the disease." Even though tomorrow is a symbolic date for the ending of the virus, Britain will not be officially decreed free of foot-and-mouth until a panel of international veterinary experts meets in Paris next month.
Bobby Waugh, the Northumberland pig farmer blamed for starting the foot-and-mouth epidemic, is to give up farming because he "has lost heart". Mr Waugh, 56, has given up the tenancy of Burnside Farm, Heddon-on-the-Wall, and is to appear before magistrates next May on 22 charges relating to animal husbandry and welfare.
Dec 29

France set to overtake Britain in new BSE cases
Independent

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
France will officially report more new cases of BSE than Britain next year for the first time since scientists identified "mad cow" disease in 1986. An analysis of the rising number of French cattle being diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and the rapidly diminishing scale of the British epidemic, reveals that the cross-over point will be reached in 2002. The prospect of France becoming the number one European country for recently diagnosed cases of BSE will be acutely embarrassing for the French government which stands alone in Europe in banning beef imports from the United Kingdom on the basis of BSE risk. .............. Whereas the number of new cases of BSE in Britain has almost halved each year in the past few years - and plummeted from its annual peak of nearly 37,000 cases in 1992 - BSE in France has risen sharply in each of the past five years.
There were six cases of BSE in France in 1997 but by 2000 the number had risen to 161. In 2001, confirmed cases have reached 258. If the trends continue, France will overtake the United Kingdom in the second half of next year with no sign of its own home-grown epidemic having peaked.
British farmers have long been suspicious of the degree to which their French counterparts have covered up their cases of BSE - one British joke is that the French acronym for the disease is "JCB" because each suspect animal is buried so quickly. This suspicion was borne out to some extent after the French government imposed mandatory BSE testing in abattoirs, which revealed many more cases of the disease than would have been reported otherwise. Some scientists argue that if Britain did the same it too would have to revise its BSE figures upwards. ............. France is known to have imported thousands of tons of animal feed contaminated with BSE from the United Kingdom at the end of the 1980s before the trade was stopped.
Like Britain, France also rendered the remains of cattle carcasses into animal feed. This continued for several years after the practice was banned in the United Kingdom. This would have helped to spread BSE throughout the French national herd.
In 1996, the European Union imposed a ban on the export of British beef after the discovery of a link between BSE and the human brain disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, but this was lifted in 1999 after Britain imposed stricter safety measures. France, however, declared a two-year embargo on British beef imports. Earlier this month, the European Court of Justice declared that it was illegal for France not to have lifted its import ban on British beef in 1999 with the rest of the European Union. The French government has yet to indicate whether it is ready to comply with the ruling. It faces massive fines if it fails to do so.
Dec 29

Orton Grave: now they seek approval
Cumberland News

The Government has hinted for the first time that it should have sought permission to bury 500,000 slaughtered sheep in Cumbria. The Cumberland News has learned that DEFRA has put in a retrospective planning application to turn the airfield at Great Orton into a mass grave. The move throws into doubt whether the Government was within its rights to push through the plan without restrictions after just one full day's consultation with the Environment Agency. Last night a DEFRA spokesman admitted the move was an attempt to "square the circle". And Labour MP Eric Martlew said the Animal Health Bill - which will make it more difficult for farmers to appeal against the culling in future - was recognition that there were "things we did not have the legal powers for". That reaction led Conservative City Council leader Mike Mitchelson to describe the Government's behaviour as "astounding" and renew calls for a public inquiry.
The Great Orton burial site hit national headlines when it became operational on March 26 after the intervention of the Army under Brigadier Alex Birtwistle. Around 466,000 animals had been dumped in 120-yard trenches by the start of September despite residents' fears that the Environment Agency had only learned of the plan on March 24. DEFRA said at the time that it did not have to seek permission before constructing the mass grave under emergency powers. Now DEFRA has lodged an application with Cumbria County Council for the site, together with plans for its future use. A spokeswoman for Carlisle City Council confirmed yesterday that the authority had received a retrospective application for the Great Orton site in its role as consultant. Allerdale councillors will also have a say before the county's development control committee meets to decide the issue in the spring. DEFRA owns and manages the site, but was only able to go ahead under licence from the Environment Agency. ........... Mr Mitchelson said the Government had "railroaded" public opinion during the crisis. "I find it astounding that they come at this time with a planning application to dispose of carcasses," he said. "Measures did have to be taken but it just reinforces the railroading of local feeling throughout the outbreak. This just shows why there must be a full public inquiry."
DEFRA revealed in October that it was likely to apply to the Environment Agency to license the site for a further 250,000 carcasses in case there were further outbreaks. The department has already built a 40ft underground wall around the mass grave to prevent leakage from rotting carcasses. Liquid waste from the site is being pumped out of the site in a process likely to continue for a decade, with the latest bout of heavy-duty drainage set to finish in mid-January.
DEFRA has already indicated it may eventually want to turn the site into a nature reserve, although the public are unlikely to be granted full access. Simon Barron, of the Environment Agency, said: "Over time everything that can be broken down from the carcasses will be gone and nothing will be released at all."
Dec 28

MORE VETS MIGHT HAVE AVOIDED SLAUGHTER
Cumberland News

THE Government's chief vet, Jim Scudamore, says the mass slaughter of animals in the foot and mouth outbreak might have been avoided, if only we'd had more vets.. He says it might not have been necessary to implement the contiguous cull policy if more vets had been available. "We simply ran out of vets," .............
Cumbrians constantly complained that there was a lack of understanding in London about the seriousness of the situation.
Cumbrian vet David Black, of the Paragon Veterinary Group in Dalston, disagreed with Mr Scudamore.
"It wasn't the number of vets, it was the way in which they were used," he said.
"We were like cannon fodder being sent out of the trenches. Local vets were not used effectively. "There was no structure, no hierarchy, just blanket policies from London which we were expected to carry out."
Mr Black also questioned whether the search for vets was carried out speedily enough. "Older vets weren't allowed to help at first because they were retired," he said.
Dec 28

2001: YEAR OF THE HEROES TODAY The Cumberland News pays tribute to the Cumbrian heroes of 2001.
Cumberland News

.............Jonathan and Sandra Stalker, farmers at Ratten Castle, Sowerby Row, on behalf of all the farmers caught up in the utter confusion of the early days of the cull. The couple, and dozens like them went to hell and back in the space of three days. The Stalkers had 1,300 sheep and 280 cattle, and faced complete wipe-out, reprieve and then slaughter of their healthy sheep within days as the Government announced the 3km cull policy then changed its mind about cattle. Maff officials struggled with the practicalities, and with phone lines jammed, all many farmers had to go on was rumour and conflicting official advice. Mrs Stalker said at the time: "It's been absolutely terrible. It's just like waiting to be hung..." l Farmers' spokesmen Les Armstrong and Will Cockbain for maintaining a voice of reason. Mr Armstrong, from Kirkoswald and Mr Cockbain, from Keswick, both NFU representatives in Cumbria, were on opposite sides of the foot and mouth debate. Mr Cockbain argued on national television for vaccination, and Mr Armstrong supported the cull. But while conspiracy theories abounded, some were talking of taking up guns and others were comparing Tony Blair with Hitler, they remained calm, respectful and called repeatedly for reasoned debate. l Caroline Fox, 12, of Hilltop Farm in Longtown, for a spirit that wouldn't be beaten. Caroline wrote to the then agriculture minister Nick Brown in April asking him to save her pet lamb and sheep from the foot and mouth cull. She did not receive a reply and her sheep were slaughtered weeks later.............
Dec 28

F&M: The rural nemesis
The countryside became a huge no-entry zone for months
BBC

By Alex Kirby
The foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001 proved a classic example of how to turn a crisis into a fully-fledged copper-bottomed disaster. It meant the deaths of nearly four million animals, and destroyed thousands of farmers' livelihoods. It brought devastation to much of the tourist industry and the rural economy.
But there was little reason for it to turn out like that.
The government's first mistake was to think, in the earliest days of the outbreak, that it was dealing with a disease that was mainly affecting pigs. Foot-and-mouth spreads rapidly among pigs, and once the disease enters a herd it can cause havoc. But pigs tend not to be moved around the country as much as sheep. It now looks as if the disease had infected very few sheep at that stage, perhaps fewer than 20 animals. But the second mistake was not to place an instant ban on the movement of farm animals. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff, now renamed the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) simply did not realise ........ that sheep were often sold informally, without entering a market. It did not know about "bed-and-breakfast sheep", hired out overnight to a farmer who wanted to top up his herd numbers for an inspection. Yet these were ideal ways of shuttling sheep the length and breadth of Britain, carrying the virus with them.
Foot-and-mouth disease is not a newcomer to the UK. The last serious outbreak was well within the memory of farmers working today, in 1967. If Maff officials had read the report on the handling of the 1967 outbreak, they showed no sign of having done so.
The report argued for the army to be brought in early in an outbreak to help Maff to control it. But Maff, true to form, continued to believe that it could save the day unaided, and the army was left on the sidelines for three weeks. The government was convinced it could overcome the outbreak by slaughtering both infected and potentially infected animals. But in a crucial error it failed to will the means to achive its aim. The result was animals waiting too long to die, and carcasses waiting too long for burial.
There was another strategy which ministers toyed with, but never found the will to use - vaccination. Foot-and-mouth disease does not often kill healthy animals, nor invariably cause them great suffering. Vaccinating them can give some protection, even though it has to be repeated every six months or so. .... At the least, vaccinating animals in a ring round a source of infection might have helped to slow its spread. But it was never tried. And finding out from Maff what was happening was often confusing and seldom straightforward. ....
"Telephoning Maff was like ringing the Bermuda Triangle," the journalist says. "The 'phones would ring and ring unanswered until I gave up.
"I eventually realised the only way I could talk to Nick Brown was to doorstep him as he came out of Maff, or to sit in the pub round the corner and wait to surprise him there." The cost of all this? The Countryside Agency put the cost to UK farming in 2001 at between £800m and £2.4bn. The cost to tourism, it reckoned, was between £2bn and £3bn this year. Yet it was the government which originally warned people not to venture into the countryside, for fear of spreading the disease.
Dec 24

I AM GETTING HOUNDED OUT AND MADE A FALL GUY
Evening Chronicle

FOOT and mouth farmer Bobby Waugh - blamed for starting the epidemic - has quit farming. He has given up the tenancy of Burnside Farm, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, the Chronicle can reveal. ..... Almost 11 months after the start of the outbreak which has devastated the countryside, work is expected to start on disinfecting the farm within weeks. .......... He claimed he has been hounded out of farming by Government officials determined to make him the fall guy for the crisis.
Mr Waugh's farm was singled out by the Government as the likely source of the epidemic which has resulted in 3,912,700 cattle being slaughtered nationally with 376,125 of those in the North East, costing the region £200 million. He said: "There is no way I am going back to pig farming. I have said all along I am a scapegoat for foot and mouth. "The amount of money I have lost is unbelievable and for nothing. I have spent almost £30,000 since February on the farm and have had no income coming in. "It was like throwing money down the drain. My father was a farmer and it is what I have done all my life but there is no way I am going back. I don't know what I am going to do."
Now the landlord-owner of Burnside Farm, Phillip Leadbitter, has applied to Defra for a licence to start the clean-up. A Defra spokesman said they had been approached by the lease owner to make arrangements at the farm to begin secondary cleaning and disinfection. He said: "This is normal practice where foot and mouth disease has been present and where veterinary advice would suggest an ongoing risk."
Mr Waugh said: "For months all I have wanted to do is to get the farm clean and ready to start again but I have been blocked at every step. "I have been driven out of business. There was no point in me having the farm if I can't even get it cleaned and get back to work." . ...........
Hexham MP Peter Atkinson said: "It is heading towards a year since the outbreak began and the farm at the start of it still hasn't been cleaned-up. Something should have been done by now." ............... Earlier this year the Chronicle revealed the Government had spent almost £80 million disinfecting farms in the North East. Another £120 million has gone on compensation cash to farmers whose animals have been culled. Mr Waugh claims Defra and its predecessor Maff have blocked him from cleaning his farm.
The Chronicle revealed he was offered £10,000 in compensation to clean-up the farm - but only if he signed the Official Secrets Act. That decision was reversed 24 hours later.
Mr Waugh used to run Tile Shed Lane Piggeries in East Boldon, South Tyneside, but was thrown off in August 1994 for breaching the terms of his small-holding tenancy. South Tyneside Council launched a legal bid to have him ejected after complaints he kept his pigs in squalid conditions. There were also allegations he let slurry run into the drains, kept more pigs than his tenancy allowed and had failed to do repairs. Mr Waugh fought the case for nearly two years before being forced off after an agricultural land tribunal. Mr Waugh has pleaded not guilty to 22 animal health offences relating to Burnside Farm which are expected to go to trial in the New Year. He faces charges under the Animal Health Act, Protection of Animals Act and Trade Descriptions Act in a case being brought by Northumberland County Council trading standards department. He added: "I am not bothered by the court case I have nothing to hide. I just wish they would get on with this so I could clear my name." "I am not public enemy number one and I am not the villain of the piece. When my pigs were burned it was the worst day of my life. "Nothing has changed. There is still 65,000 gallons of pig slurry under the sheds waiting to be cleared. "Every other farmer affected by foot and mouth has been allowed to clean up his premises and return to farming, and have earned tens of thousands of pounds in compensation. "If they'd allowed me to do the same on day-one I could have been back working the place by now."
Farm manager Stephen Smith, 34, from Alnwick, said: "The Government have been looking for someone to blame and it seems they have decided Bobby Waugh is the scapegoat. "He has been treated shabbily all along and has been hounded out. Times are hard and I think a lot of other farmers will eventually make the same decision he has."
Dec 24

NEW ALLIANCE WARNS OF ANIMAL HEALTH BILL DANGERS
NST SG

- an analysis of the hidden impact of the Animal Health Bill reveals the dangers to livestock heritage and to farmers' rights. In a detailed paper published today a specialist sheep group, supported by Rare Breeds International (RBI) and The Traditional Livestock Foundation (TLF), sets out the dangers lurking within the Animal Health Bill currently before Parliament.
Convenor of the Northern Short-Tailed Sheep Group (NST SG), Peter Titley, said: "The unprecedented and extreme measures in the Bill would give the Government powers to override the civil liberties of farmers beyond anything experienced during the Foot and Mouth outbreak - so much so, that some genetically vital breeds are threatened with extinction and all of this on the back of unreliable science"
The Group demands further exploration of the prion protein mechanisms which lie at the heart of the Government's panic measures over BSE and Scrapie - both known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs).
Lawrence Alderson of Rare Breeds International points out that: "Part of the sheep industry, with breeds claiming high scrapie resistance, have already embraced the Government's plan to eradicate the disease from the national flock, but the NST SG rightly points out that the industry may be insufficiently aware of the longer term implications. For example, the genotypes now trumpeted as 'scrapie resistant' (and likely to form the basis of many new breeding programmes in commercial flocks) may equally not be resistant, and may simply mask long-incubation scrapie. Of course, mutations also may arise which undermine the very assumptions of resistance upon which new breeding plans are based."
The NST SG, with links to a network of international expertise and opinion has maintained a dialogue with DEFRA policy makers and advisors.
The fact that it now makes a public call for caution speaks loudly on behalf of a threatened community - threatened, not by science itself, but by a brand of political expedience which represents less than the full picture - yet again!
Dec 28

New Year could mark end of foot and mouth
Telegraph

By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
BRITAIN could be declared free of foot and mouth disease from midnight on New Year's Eve. Tests on animals from the last four counties awaiting the all-clear will be reviewed on Monday, the Government said yesterday. There was optimism among farmers that they would at last be able to celebrate an end to a dreadful year. ............ Declaring the four "at risk" counties - Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland - free of the disease will only be the first step toward a recovery, however.
Blood testing will continue in badly hit areas until the Government is satisfied that the country is clear. Only then can the process begin of convincing others - most importantly the EU, which represents the bulk of the market for Britain's meat and livestock products.
Officials say it is likely that Britain will have to wait until May, however, for clearance from the OIE, the international animal health organisation, as key stages in testing and the lifting of restrictions will not be completed by its meeting in mid-January.
Exports to the EU of some animal products have already begun from disease-free areas and cattle markets are expected to open again in February, a year after they were closed.
The Government has said it will decide then which restrictions are to remain. It has indicated that it is unlikely to want a return to the unrestricted movement of sheep, but the unpopular 20-day restriction after an animal has moved to a farm could go. ................ John Thorley, of the National Sheep Association, said: "Even though there are problems, the resilience of the sheep producer is something that cannot be ignored. They are as tough as old boots."
Financial indicators suggest that farming has "bottomed out". Government figures predict a modest rise in livestock incomes this year and this is likely to carry through to the arable sector, which had one of the worst harvests in recent memory after a record rainfall in the autumn and winter of 2000.
Key factors for farmers this year will be the strength of the Euro - subsidies are tied to the euro, so they do better when the pound is weak. The strong pound over the past five years has been a significant contributor to the farming recession.
Another factor for dairy farmers will be whether the competition among milk processors continues. There have been City rumours of closures among suppliers to supermarkets because of overcapacity. This would relieve some of the downward pressure on milk prices, which has forced many dairy farmers to sell at less than it costs to produce.
Dec 28

Farmers split over foot and mouth cash
Telegraph

By Richard Savill (Filed: 27/12/2001)
................... "There are people whose stock was culled who are now driving around in new vehicles. Their farms have been upgraded as a result of the clean-up operation, with the renewal of buildings in some cases. The ultimate person who is laughing is the one who got full compensation but does not intend re-stocking, and may even sell his farm.
"If your neighbour has a brand new Range Rover and you have still got a 20-year-old Land Rover you are going to notice it. It must create bitterness."
Mr Hill urged the Government to give some compensation to those who had been forbidden to move their stock. He criticised Alun Michael, rural affairs minister, who was reported to have said that "the problem had gone away" and there was no need to compensate people who had been under restrictions. He added: "If he really does believe the problem has gone away he is in panto land." Mr Hill said the Government would have "saved a hell of a lot of animal lives and money if it had recognised on day one that it had a major problem. The images of the animals in the pyres are with us forever. I will never forget the sights and sounds of the countryside literally being bled to death."
Bob Parry, president of the Farmers' Union of Wales, said 2001 would go down as farming's worst year. There were 2,030 confirmed cases of foot and mouth in Britain with 4,017,000 cattle, sheep, pigs and goats slaughtered. The cost of controlling the disease is put at more than £2 billion.
Mr Parry said: "The emotional stress of witnessing generations of work destroyed in an instant has been too great for many farmers. Some have decided to call it a day and leave farming for good. Others have taken their own lives."
He criticised the Government for refusing to hold a full and open public inquiry. "The three inquiries announced by the Government did not go far enough," he said. "What is the point of an inquiry if it doesn't have the legal powers to force key witnesses to give evidence? I believe that a full public inquiry is the only way of getting at the truth, however difficult or embarrassing for individuals that truth may be."
A Defra spokesman said: "Statutory compensation was paid only for animals which have been slaughtered as a result of the outbreak or for animals which have been destroyed in order to prevent spread of the disease. There are no statutory provisions for compensating farmers who are unable to move their stock. In any case the Government does not compensate farmers or businesses for other indirect losses."
Dec 27

Vet shortage 'made slaughter worse'
The Times

BY VALERIE ELLIOTT, COUNTRYSIDE EDITOR
THOUSANDS of animals could have been saved from slaughter during the foot-and-mouth epidemic if the Government had had more vets to make essential checks on vulnerable farms. Jim Scudamore, the Government's Chief Veterinary Officer, admitted publicly for the first time yesterday that the controversial policy of killing all animals within 1.8 miles of an infected farm could have been prevented if there had been more vets available.
He also made clear that any future outbreaks would be dealt with by a specific plan for each county, depending on the nature of local farming.
Farmers must also take disease control and animal welfare more seriously, he said. Production subsidies could even be linked to a requirement for continuing training.
Mr Scudamore added that there had been differences, but "no slanging matches", between veterinary experts and scientific modellers about the contiguous cull. He said that the world's foot-and-mouth experts at the Institute of Animal Health - Alex Donaldson and Paul Kitching, who has since moved to a job abroad - had called for "intensive clinical surveillance and for vets to go back to farms regularly to check for disease". Mr Scudamore said: "We simply ran out of vets. In Cumbria I would have needed a vet to visit the same farm perhaps up to five times a day."
Many farmers were incensed that the Government insisted on the slaughter of healthy animals because they were on neighbouring farms.
Mr Scudamore pointed out, however, that animals had been killed on farms considered "dangerous contacts", usually neighbouring farms, without objection from most farmers. He accepted that there had been a problem with the presentation of the contiguous cull.
Latest figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show that 1,232,277 animals were slaughtered as dangerous contacts, including animals killed on contiguous farms. The total number of animals killed was 4,017,000.
The contiguous cull was devised after the results obtained by three independent groups of disease experts who used mathematical models to show the likely shape of the epidemic. The scientific group, chaired by Professor David King, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, insisted that to halt the outbreak all animals on infected farms should be slaughtered within 24 hours and on contiguous farms within 48 hours.
Mr Scudamore said that he did not dissent from that view because all the models predicted the same scenario. "Comments that I am against models are untrue. Models have a very important role . . . But we must scrutinise the model and ensure the policy is deliverable and validated."
He defended the Animal Health Bill, about to be introduced in the Lords, which will limit a farmer's right of appeal against slaughter of animals in any disease outbreak, adding: "The most important thing is that it should not happen again."
Mr Scudamore, promoted to Director General Animal Health at Defra, added: "Vaccination remains an option, but it could still be ruled out. We need to look at the particular controls imposed on products from vaccinated animals. If we had vaccinated in Cumbria, for example, under current rules these animals would have had to stay in the county for one year."
He will now work closely with the nation's vets to ensure that the Government has a panel of experts to call up in any emergency.
Dec 27

Re: Let it be
Telegraph letter

Date: 27 December 2001 SIR - I see that Paul McCartney is using his (fading) popularity and the season of the year to tell the whole country that "the majority" of it is against foxhunting. I suggest that any poll of the whole population - and I would bet my mortgage on it - would produce the following result:
Instransigently for the ban: 10 per cent. Resolutely against the ban: 10 per cent. Couldn't care less: 80 per cent. The Government ought to be told to waste no more time on this question; there are better things to do.
From: Alan Shutt, York
Dec 27

Oscar Arias Speaks Out on Ecoagriculture in Folha de Sao Paulo
Future Harvest

A major theme of next year's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg- - also known as Rio + 10 - will be the critical issue of poverty in conjunction with conservation. Where poor and hungry people have few options other than to encroach on the environment for a day's pay, conservation efforts will be stymied. Instead of working against each other, farmers and environmentalists need to work together to find farming methods that both produce more food and preserve the environment. Read more of Arias' view on http://www.futureharvest.org a global nonprofit organization that promotes research in agriculture and the environment
posted Dec 27

/

True leadership
Telegraph

(Filed: 26/12/2001)
THE Queen's Christmas Day broadcast was a masterpiece of its kind - moving but dignified, inclusive but culturally self-confident. The dramatic centrepiece was the expression of solidarity with the United States for the events of September 11, subtly reasserting the relationship with America as a cornerstone of British security. Such feelings of kinship were reaffirmed without qualification. ................... But the Queen's emphasis on greater understanding between "communities" was not solely denominational. It also referred to the need to bridge generational, geographical and cultural divides - particularly between the town and the hard-pressed countryside, whose distress has faded from the front pages in recent months but which remains a cruel reality for those who dwell in rural areas. The message was diplomatic, but unmistakeable.
Such skills should surprise nobody. The Sovereign quietly reminded us that this was the 50th such broadcast which she had delivered since succeeding her father in 1952. Rightly, this was a slow-burn start to an important year for her: the Palace is deliberately not overegging the Golden Jubilee, as John Major's government did initially with the D-Day celebrations in 1994, thus raising excessively high expectations of mass enthusiasm. Instead, it is hoping that such enthusiasm will rise gradually and organically, from the grassroots, after the fashion of the highly successful Silver Jubilee of 1977.
It is worth thinking of the changes over which she has reigned. When she assumed the throne, Churchill was in his final term as prime minister. He relished the role of taking her under his wing, much as Lord Melbourne had done with the young Queen Victoria.
Today, the Queen can teach the ephemeral politicians a thing or two. It is to her that many in this country instinctively turn for reassurance. Once more, she deserves our thanks.
Dec 26

Re: Game bird-shooting safaris
Telegraph letter

Date: 26 December 2001
SIR - It would seem that Defra has finally parted company with its trolley. A friend of mine recently requested a schedule of conditions for a licence to shoot game birds.
Schedule No 1(a) stated that: No person shall participate in a shoot if they have come in contact with cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, deer or elephants.
Further, under 1(b): They must not approach, handle or touch any of the above while participating in a shoot.
Life gets increasingly difficult, don't it?
From: Peter Duckworth, Marthwaite, Sedbergh
And ALSO

Re: Look to Defra
Telegraph

Date: 26 December 2001
SIR - The Government has the cure for the NHS in its grasp. It should transfer responsibility for running it to DEFRA and vice versa, with these results:
NHS: No waiting lists: all patients over 30 months culled; anyone in a family with an ill member will be regarded as dangerous contacts and culled; challenges will be decided by blood tests: if you have antibodies, you will be culled.
Defra: NHS funding will be utilised for a revitalised farming industry; all equipment will be provided free of charge by the Government; surplus funding will be given back to the Treasury for other uses.
From: Peter Greenhill, Cockermouth, Cumbria
Dec 26

Even Newer Muckspreader
Private Eye

Looking round for a last way to kick farmers in the teeth before the end of the year when they organised the biggest administrative shambles in British government history, ie the FMD fiasco, Mrs Beckett's officials came up with 'Operation Big Brother'. This i