[Jacob-list] Foot-and-Mouth: Farmers revolt

[Thomas Simmons]

ISSUE 2122 Saturday 17 March 2001
  
  Farmers in revolt over mass cull
By David Brown, Agriculture Editor


  Vets blame men from ministry for slaughter delay
Union rebels defy 'killing for killing's sake'
'These merinos are my family'
Land of milk and money down the drain
'We would rather die than let them kill our flock'
Postpone the election plans, say half of voters
Countryside not out of bounds, says Meacher
Church bells will ring out to show their support
'We need emergency centre for vaccines'
Giant calling card for MPs
How to help the farmers
Daily Telegraph: No trust, no cure

THE militant Farmers for Action group declared "all-out war" on the 
Government yesterday as the rural revolt grew over plans to cull up to a 
million healthy animals in the foot and mouth crisis.
  While the National Farmers' Union, which supports the cull, forecast 
"months of torture", its members in Cumbria split from the leadership and 
threatened to barricade their farms to prevent Ministry of Agriculture vets 
from destroying their stock. The NFU called for "hundreds of millions of 
pounds" to rebuild the industry.

Nick Brown, the Minister of Agriculture, was forced to apologise for his 
blunder on Thursday which led farmers to believe that cattle would be 
included in the extra, precautionary cull. Only sheep, pigs, goats, llamas 
and alpacas will be included in the cull within three kilometres of infected 
farms. The cull was put on hold until Jim Scudamore, the Government's chief 
vet, travels to Carlisle on Monday to explain his reasons for it. 

Cumbria is one of the areas worst hit by the disease, but cattle will be 
slaughtered only if they catch the disease because they are regarded as less 
of a risk as carriers. The number of confirmed outbreaks rose by 17 to 273. 
One of them was among a dozen sheep used to crop grass at a Ministry of 
Defence explosives depot at East Riggs, near Gretna, in Dumfries and Galloway.


Ben Gill: 'That torture was compounded yesterday by mistakes made at the 
Ministry of Agriculture' 
Mr Brown said he was sorry for the "ambiguity" of his statement which caused 
anger and panic. He said: "We did not explain ourselves very well. I 
apologise on my own behalf and on behalf of the ministry for any harm and 
distress. I take responsibility." But even as the Government tried to calm 
the rising tide of protest, there was new controversy about the total impact 
of the extra cull.

Mr Brown and his officials said that the figure for the extra doomed 
livestock could be "around 300,000", but the NFU said that it could top one 
million. The Government would not abandon farmers, Mr Brown said. It 
recognised that "substantial" extra aid would be needed. He said he was 
preparing a list of aid measures which he would discuss with the European 
Commission in Brussels on Monday.

Ben Gill, the NFU president, said that farmers were facing the "torture" of 
seeing their herds and flocks wiped out and not knowing where the disease 
would strike next or if their farms would survive. He said: "That torture was 
compounded yesterday by mistakes made at the Ministry of Agriculture." He 
would be submitting compensation demands totalling "hundreds of millions", 
including money to allow farmers to quit the industry. EU schemes were 
available for that purpose.

The Rural Recovery Task Force was continuing to discuss measures to open up 
parts of the country, but Mr Gill said it could be premature to open areas 
deemed to be "clean". In a bleak description of the impact of the disease, he 
said: "When you have cattle killed and piled up on your farm and left for 
five or six days in the rotting stinking hulk that is so pervasive, you can 
imagine how the emotions build up."

The NFU was worried about delays between the disease being identified and 
slaughter beginning. Tesco, Britain's largest supermarket chain, said it 
would sell more British pork and order its suppliers to pay farmers for it 
within 48 hours to ease their cash problems.


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