United Kingdom-More costs for farmers.

UNITED KINGDOM-PROPOSAL FOR FARMERS TO SHARE COSTS OF DISEASE.

Government plans for farmers to share the cost of disease outbreaks have been dismissed as unfair and unworkable by Westcountry farming leaders.

They say there can be no progress on the issue until the Government agrees to a cull of diseased badgers, blamed for spreading bovine tuberculosis through South West cattle herds.

Farmers were frustrated and angry with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) over bovine TB, said Melanie Hall, regional director of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).

"It really is rubbing salt in the wound for Defra to propose charging farmers when it is fundamentally failing to support the industry on the most significant animal health issue facing farmers today," she said. "We shall fight this all the way."

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced a consultation period, lasting until June, on a raft of proposals about how to handle animal diseases like foot and mouth and bluetongue.

He said the scheme – estimated to cost as much as £22.5 million to implement – could see a new independent board established to make decisions about animal health policy and delivery, made up of members with experience in the livestock industry, animal health science and welfare, and relevant public health, consumer and wildlife issues. In a disease outbreak, key decisions such as movement controls would be made by the new organisation, on the advice of the Chief Veterinary Officer.

Mr Benn said the plans would help to reduce the risks and costs of animal disease, improve confidence in animal health policies and ensure the farmers who benefited from animal disease control measures shared the costs with taxpayers. The new body would be largely publicly funded, with a levy on livestock keepers contributing to the costs of surveillance and preparedness for disease outbreaks.

He said views were also being sought on compulsory insurance for farmers to contribute to the cost of dealing with disease outbreaks.

The Government currently spent £400 million each year on animal health and welfare, he said. The farming industry had no decision-making powers over policy and did not contribute directly to the cost of co-ordinating disease control.

But Mrs Hall questioned if the new body would be really independent, whether it would have sufficient scope – and if the farmers would have enough say.

"The concept of raising money which just sits there ready for Defra to use in a disease outbreak has always concerned us," she said, further asking whether the Government was giving the insurance industry "a mandate to make money out of livestock farmers".

Neil Parish, Conservative MEP, Somerset farmer and chairman of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, warned: "Defra has a bit of a cheek asking farmers to stump up for disease outbreaks when the last major outbreak of foot and mouth disease originated in a Government laboratory, and the countryside.