£25m aid must be only first step
COUNTING the cost of just eight cases of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey for rural Scotland was always set to be problematic, and there can scarcely be a livestock farmer north of the Border who has not suffered to some extent.
Valuable export markets of beef, lamb and pig meat were lost at a critical time of the year. That trade has now resumed, but subject to strict regulation, which makes it difficult for many producers.