UK gov't to battle against animal disease

The plans of the UK government to share the cost of combating animal disease with livestock producers across England, has emerged.

Official figures accompanying the controversial proposals appear unclear and out of date, said farm leaders following the publication of the long-awaited draft Animal Health Bill on Monday (Jan 25).

Launched by DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn, the document sets out proposals to establish a new independent body for animal health. Taxpayers will benefit from savings of up to GBP21 million a year once implemented, but farmers will have to pay.

However, statistics buried in a government impact assessment examining the benefits of proposals to share anti-disease measures with farmers suggest that the average dairy herd has only 39 cows, and the average pig unit has only 16 sows.

Farm leaders lambasted the bill, questioning its benefits, the statistics and lack of costing, which will be dealt with separately at a later date. The full, long-term cost implications for producers remained unknown, they warned.

The new body would have no fund-raising powers. NFU officials fear this could effectively pave the way for an animal tax, with the Treasury raising money from farmers and then deciding how much to send to DEFRA.

Milk producers also hit out at the bill saying it was crucial that the funding mechanisms did not have a negative impact, according to Lyndon Edwards, chairman of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers.

"We simply cannot accept further farmer costs as part of government's cost-sharing measures when in fact placing emphasis on measures such as biosecurity will have a cost in itself."