The farming community – and particularly the dairy sector – is still getting over the shock of the death last week of John Round, from Elmore in Gloucestershire.
John was widely regarded as one of the most skilled and knowledgeable dairy farmers in the country and his death leaves the industry much the poorer.
But while I have no wish to pre-empt the findings of the inquest, from what I have learnt it seems that the presence of TB in his herd may, in the very least, have been a contributory factor in his death.
And if this turns out to be the case, then we may be pinning yet another human tragedy on the intransigence of politicians and civil servants and the reluctance displayed over several years for anyone in a position of authority to tackle head-on the menace that is all too obviously out there in the countryside.
My own efforts to find some way around the impasse have involved both Conservative MP Neil Parish – whose own farming experience at least acquaints him fully with the problem – and Agriculture Minister Jim Paice who, of course, is also in farming when he's not occupying his office at Nobel House.
But what has struck me throughout is the total lack of any sense of urgency at Defra – or, for that matter, any realisation of how devastating the effects of TB are becoming on farmers.
There are also worrying reports of how some senior civil servan
ts who should be advising on policy appear to be fully paid-up, card-carrying members of the pro-badger lobby, and a climate of fear among Government vets, who are under immense pressure to keep quiet about what they see and know about the problem and about the obvious solution, as they see it.
We are rapidly getting to the stage where we should be demanding a public inquiry into Defra's handling of the TB issue over the last 10 years – because I believe it to be totally without precedent in the way it has allowed a controllable disease to spread and ruin the livelihood of hundreds of hard-working farmers.
I set no great store by public inquiries, but they are, at least, a way of exposing official incompetence – something which I believe has been displayed in huge quantities by civil servants who regard the very existence of farmers as an irritation, care not where their food comes from so long as it arrives on their plate, and have so little knowledge of the countryside and agriculture as to be totally unfit for the jobs they are holding down.
Once the local elections are over Jim Paice is likely to be unveiling his plans for a cull, but these need to be as simple, straightforward and inexpensive as possible because TB-hit farmers have already been burdened with enough financial losses.
But even if and when a cull is announced it will not wipe out the massive failings of Defra, its staff and its Ministers, which have driven farmers to the very brink of despair – and beyond.
thisiscornwall
Meat Trade News Daily Supporting British Pig Farmers
Source: newsroom - meattradenewsdaily.co.uk
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