SEEDA offers £150,000 to farmers affected by foot and mouth
The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) has announced the launchof a £150,000 support package for South East farmers affected by the recentoutbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).
The money, which will be deployed through the charities in the Farm CrisisNetwork, the English Beef and Lamb Executive and the South East Food GroupPartnerships, comes in addition to the £53,000 worth of work already carriedout by SEEDA in order to boost tourism and consultancy for bio-security.
The support package includes both short and long term measures. Short-termmeasures are aimed at: improving customer confidence in order to boost themarket for the high-quality meat produced in the region; offering welfaresupport and enhancing farmers> ' resilience via boosting knowledge ofanimal welfare and bio security. For the long term, the aim is to strengthensupply chains and infrastructure.
Projects on the ground will include a drive to promote the consumption oflamb in the region to complement national and international work carried outby Defra, and projects to raise the profile of farmers' markets and drawin new customers in the period up to Christmas. Work will also be done toguard against future animal disease outbreaks by mapping small livestock andhobby farmers and offering them support and training in animal welfare.
SEEDA's Executive Director of Sustainable Prosperity, Oona Muirheadsays; "The FMD outbreak came at a particularly difficult time of year,when livestock farmers earn a substantial proportion of their annual incomefrom taking stock to market to sell. Restrictions on the movement of animalsin order to contain the disease therefore severely hit farmers' cashflow. The South East has outstanding lowland landscapes, which depend onlivestock grazing, and a high-quality food offer for local and Europeanmarkets. The action is aimed at protecting and enhancing these significantrural economic and environmental assets."
The support package was decided on at a review meeting involving the SouthEast England Development Agency (SEEDA), the Government Office for the SouthEast (GOSE), Sustainable Farming and Food Board for the South East, DEFRA,the English Beef and Lamb Executive, Country Land Association, the NationalFarmers Union, and the Local Disease Control Centre (LDCC) at Guildford.
In the long-term SEEDA aims to work with its partners to ensure betterunderstanding of the value of lowland livestock farming to the South East inrelation to the lifestyle and tourism opportunities available, thebiodiversity of its environment and continuing ability to attract business.
