November 19, 2007

UK farmers to pay GBP40 million a year to offset disease costs
 

UK farmers face having to pay an extra US$82 million a year to the government to offset the costs of dealing with animal diseases, The Daily Telegraph reports Monday (November 19, 2007).

About US$246 million is being spent this year on tackling disease outbreaks, and ministers hope they can claw back about one third of that from farmers, the paper says.

The levy would likely be linked to the size of farms and would pay for costs such as those incurred in implementing movement restrictions following an outbreak. There are also veterinary costs and compensation packages to pay for.

Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, said the bill was justified because the farming industry would be given more say in how diseases were controlled.

"In those circumstances, is it unreasonable to ask the farming community to bear more of the cost of taking the decisions to deal with animal diseases," Benn said, adding no final decisions had been taken on how much farmers would have to pay, however.

USD$1.00 = GBP 0.488827 (As of November 19, 2007)