07/06/07
The Tenant Farmers Association has rejected plans contained in
a DEFRA consultation document for greater sharing of the responsibility
and costs of animal health and welfare policy between Government
and farmers.
TFA National Chairman
Reg Haydon
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Speaking at the Cornwall Show TFA National Chairman Reg
Haydon said “The consultation document starts with completely
the wrong assumption that costs are not already shared between
the Government and the industry. The costs of complying with regulations,
regular testing, under-compensation for animals taken for disease
control purposes and consequential loss are all borne by the industry
but do not appear to be recognised by DEFRA. Any policy must start
from the reality that there is already significant cost sharing
between Government and industry and that applying further costs
on the industry is not justified”.
The stated, dual aims of the new policy are to reduce disease risk
and regulatory burden. However, it is clear that the real reason
for the proposals is to reduce the cost of disease control faced
by the exchequer.
“The Government’s wish to package a cost-saving exercise
in terms of benefits to animal health and welfare is inappropriate.
The TFA rejects the Government’s fundamental premise that
the industry should pay more for disease control costs” said
Mr Haydon.
“The farming industry is also becoming weary of the clichéd
use by the Government of the term ‘partnership’ when
it comes to animal health issues. There has been very little evidence
of partnership to date. With bovine TB, the biggest animal health
issue facing the South West and the wider country at the moment,
the introduction of pre-movement testing, the use of tabular valuations
and the non-implementation of a cull of TB affected badgers are
all evidence that the Government’s rhetoric on partnership
is not transferred into action. The Government is naive if it thinks
that TB will not cast a large shadow over its future policy on
animal health” said Mr Haydon.
“There is also the sense that the Government wants to distance
itself from making difficult decisions on disease control by passing
them to another body. No–one wants to see a cull of badgers
but if that is what is needed to control the spread of TB then
that is what must be done. The TFA’s position is clear -
take the necessary action on TB and then we can talk about future
policy” said Mr Haydon.
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