Governments Aid Package Falls Short Of The Mark
UK - The NFU has welcomed the Government's aid package to help livestock farmers in England recover from the foot and mouth and bluetongue crises, but has warned that its estimated £12.5 million value falls far short of the losses of over £100 million that the industry has sustained to date.
9 October 2007
1 minute read
"The measures announced by the Government are a whole lot better than nothing and the assistance for hill farmers will be particularly welcome", said NFU President Peter Kendall.
"But, to be blunt, the Government's package will make good only a fraction of the enormous financial damage caused by the release of foot and mouth virus from the Pirbright facility and the fact remains that there are tens of thousands of livestock farmers whose incomes have taken a heavy battering, and for whom this package offers little or nothing in the way of direct financial support.
"It is important, therefore, that the Government keeps the situation under review and it must be prepared to come forward with further support for the wider livestock industry if that proves to be necessary."
Mr Kendall also welcomed the limited easing of a number of regulatory requirements announced by Defra Secretary of State, and in particular the decision to seek an exemption from the 170kg of nitrogen per hectare limit for farmyard manure usage on grassland farms.
