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Foot and Mouth - SEEDAs Support for Farmers16 November 2007 Latest news: 21st November: Commission Decision relating to FMD meat export controls 16th November: Foot and Mouth Disease Restrictions 13th November: Written Ministerial Statement by Hilary Benn - update on Foot and Mouth Disease and Blue Tongue Disease outbreaks. On November 5 the FMD Surveillance Zone was lifted and became part of the Restricted Zone. New movement restrictions are now in place. On November 6 the EU has made a new decision on FMD exports to come into place until the middle of November. On November 9 a new International trade Customer Information Note was produced - an agreement of further relaxation of EU Safeguard Measures for the Trade. Please use the DEFRA website to find out details of these changes. The Interactive map can be searched by postcode to see the different zones for both FM and Bluetongue. 23 October DEFRA eases restrictions on movements in the FMD Restricted Zone as of 5 November. For details please see the Defra website. News Release: Government Tenders for Bluetongue Vaccine SEEDA has today launched an additional £150K package of support for livestock farmers in the South East, as a follow-up to the £53,000 work already carried out to boost tourism and consultancy for bio-security.
The package of support has a number of elements to it, aimed at: improving customer confidence and boosting the market for the high-quality meat products produced in the region; welfare support and enhancing livestock farmers' resilience to future shocks through enhancing skills on animal welfare and bio-security; and strengthening supply chains and infrastructure in the long term. The measures to boost the market will be administered through the English Beef and Lamb Executive, South East Food Group Partnerships and the Farm Crisis Network. They will include a lamb marketing drive in the region to complement the national and international marketing work Defra announced earlier this month, marketing to raise the profile of farmers markets and draw in new customers, particularly during the period up to Christmas To build up skills against future animal disease outbreaks, work will be done to map large number of small livestock keepers and hobby farmers and support and training offered to improve animal welfare skills. This work will learn from the success of the Small Sheppard’s Club.
In the longer term SEEDA will work with partners to secure a better understanding of the value to the region of lowland livestock farming, particularly to the region’s lifestyle and tourism offer, the environment and biodiversity, and its continuing ability to attract business. This will include looking at infrastructure capacity (such as abattoirs and chilling capacity) in a future of increased likelihood of exotic diseases. More generally, long term and robust resilience planning is needed to cope with future emergencies. We will use the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) to: help remediate the current and expected lack of abattoir and chilling capacity in the region; provide long term improvements to animal health and welfare skills and bio-security across the regions livestock farmers; ‘adding value’ to farm products; and improvements along the food chain such as through collaboration within the industry to reduce costs. Bluetongue A further two cases of bluetongue have now been confirmed on two separate premises, one in Cambridgeshire and one in the South East, near Ashford in Kent. Both cases fall within the current Bluetongue Protection Zone, but Control Zones have been put in place around these two new cases, and the existing Protection Zone has also been extended. Government Support Package On 8 October Secretary of State for the Environment, Hilary Benn announced a package of support, worth £12.5 million, for farmers in England affected by the current movement restrictions in place to control Foot and Mouth Disease. This package of assistance for farmers in England will encompass: £8.5 million in the form of a one off payment for hill farmers; £1 million to raise the level of subsidy for the National Fallen Stock Scheme for farmers in the FMD Risk Area from 10% to 100%. This will be available to all livestock keepers in the FMD Risk Area, which includes the counties of Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and West Sussex in the South East. A contribution of up to £1m to the Arthur Rank Centre for disbursement to farming charities, which provide advice and practical and emotional support to farming families; an and £2m for promotion and marketing of lamb, beef and pork both domestically and in export markets. Further details are on the Defra website. Movement Restrictions Please use the Defra website www.defra.gov.uk and click on the links to the FMD/Bluetongue pages to show the 5 different movement restrictions.
SEEDA Support Package SEEDA has been working with the following key partners to agree and take forward actions to help the region’s businesses cope with the impact and plan for future resilience: Government Office for the South East [GOSE] South East Sustainable Farming and Food Board, Defra, Surrey County Council, Tourism South East, Country Land and Business Association and the National Farmers Union. SEEDA is developing and discussing with partners a package of support for South East businesses. So far we have already given £50,000 to Tourism South East to market the countryside of the region as a superb place to visit and reinforce that – apart from some very specific areas in Surrey - the countryside is very much open for business. SEEDA and key partners have already agreed some medium and long term priorities: improving animal health and welfare skills across the South East, including among smaller and part-time livestock keepers and we are already exploring ways of doing this with veterinary practices in the region |
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The FMD outbreak has come at a particularly difficult time when livestock farmers earn a substantial proportion of their annual income from taking their stock to market to sell. Restrictions on the movement of animals to contain the disease are therefore severely hitting farmers’ cash flow.
The welfare money will be deployed through the charities in the Farm Crisis Network. These charities help farmers and their families in times of need, through their local networks, with a combination of pastoral and practical support, financial grants in crisis situations and long term welfare assistance. This will compliment the Defra national package, providing more targeted support needed in the South East. This follows the very successful support provided in the 2001 FMD outbreak, which farmers found very helpful. In addition, in the light of the significant cash-flow problems farmers are facing, an assessment will be made of the financial impact on farmers across the region of dealing with fallen stock because of both FMD and Bluetongue restrictions, and action will complement the Defra package which is restricted to the immediate FMD Risk area