Originally from: Mary Critchley
                        
Warmwell and Farmtalking have been off the air for many hours it seems (If this is only my own computer please tell me! I have received three viruses in the last 12 hours)

Today's news so far on warmwell:

Jan 1 -6 ~ "The Prince also sees the sense of the UK remaining relatively self-sufficient in food at a time when global situations can change very unexpectedly."
 "Continuity and accessibility of supply are important at a time when the world faces increased risks from terrorism and political instability."
 David Lloyd, writing in the Daily Post, seems not to be impressed by Lord Haskins' contempt for Prince Charles' support for British Farmers icnorthwales " Is this recognised by Lord Haskins? After many years in charge of Northern Foods, he must be aware of the interests of the major food retailers. He also knows that the Prime Minister and Defra ministers favour fair dealing and partnership throughout the food supply chain. And of course he will be familiar with the recent House of Commons study which accused food retailers in Britain of being greedy and creaming off huge profits, leaving both farmers and consumers poorer...." Jan 1 – 6 ~EU plans could be end for abattoirs. Costs could jump from £3 to £100 per animal
 Seen yesterday on the icnorthwales site
 Andrew Forgrave, Rural Affairs Editor "NEW EU proposals would drive smaller abattoirs out of business and hit farmers' markets, ..... The legislation, which has already sparked a fierce reaction from the meat industry, would also damage attempts by farmers to climb out of recession, said David Harden, Chairman of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) in Wales. He said proposals by Brussels to demand full recovery of meat hygiene inspection charges, and to enforce new blood disposal measures, would result in massive new costs for many slaughterhouses and cutting plants.
 The CLA estimates smaller plants could see the cost per animal increase from around £3 to a staggering £100. For large plants it would mean an increase from £2-£3 to £10 per animal.
 ..... Already 150 rural organisations, spanning farming, environmental, animal welfare, women's, business and tourism groups, have united in opposition to the EU proposals. Mr Harden said: "These proposed EU regulations would have disastrous consequences if they are implemented, and so must be stopped. .... Smaller local abattoirs and cutting plants currently process 49% of UK livestock. They deal with specialist and local meats, provide jobs in rural communities and help cut the distances animals travel. Their survival is seen as essential if animal diseases like foot-and-mouth are to be contained." Jan 1 -6 ~ End of the OTMS scheme?
 The National Beef Association has told its members that the Food Standards Agency is already undertaking a risk analysis on the release of beef from cattle over 30 months old into the food chain. According to the report in icNewcastle (external link) "The Treasury is also hopeful that the cost of the scheme, which totals around £400m a year, will be reduced by less animals moving through it........(Keith Redpath) 'should beef from a still to be identified range of over 30 months cattle be given the green light for entry into the food chain we think feeders wishing to specialise in this type of animal would be wise to expect lower prices, even for animals that have only just gone over the 30 months limit, compared with those that are under and do not have to be tested.
 "Nobody can be sure that a two-tier market will develop, but if slaughterers are faced with additional costs that are specific to testing, run the risk of incurring other costs if an animal tests positive and have to cultivate new customers after OTM beef has been absent from the food market for over six years there is a possibility it might happen'....." Jan 1 – 6 ~ "..the most dynamic regions were those which had a prosperous rural economy"
 The ( Newcastle) Journal's article about The State of the Countryside report "...Prof Lowe said: "If there is any room for complacency at a national level there is none at a North-East level....an upturn in countryside fortunes was in the interests not just of rural areas but of the whole region. .... He said that other parts of the UK and Europe showed that the most dynamic regions were those which had a prosperous rural economy."
 ".... Countryside Agency North East regional director Keith Buchanan said: "Many of the initiatives being recommended in the wake of Sir Donald Curry's post foot-and-mouth inquiry are already central to our thinking in the North-East. Now we must ensure that change happens." Prof Lowe said: "The Government's new commitment to raise the productivity of the lowest performing rural districts is therefore welcome news which needs to be followed through with practical action and investment ...." Jan 1 – 6 ~"..there has to be a 'reckoning-up' time; there has to be something positive. The Government has got to address the reasons why this tragedy happened."
 From an entry (correspondent unknown) for March 2001 in Fields of Fire when it was believed that real lessons would be learned from a holocaust no one could quite believe could possibly be happening in Britain.
 The book's author, Jacquita Allender, has with characteristic generosity allowed her book "Fields of Fire" to appear on warmwell. (It can be accessed from the left menu) A labour of love in all senses, Quita's book will stand as a testament of all its hundreds of contributors, those whose faith in vets, in government and in sanity was so heartlessly destroyed in England in 2001. Extract: "... out of all this farming holocaust in our beleaguered county, there has to be a 'reckoning-up' time; there has to be something positive. The Government has got to address the reasons why this tragedy happened. We have got to bombard MAFF, the NFU, the CCC, the MPs with our opinions, and we have got to believe that this time they will be listened to. The issues which I believe need addressing are now part of normal telephone conversation:
 a.. the 412% mark up by the Big 4 supermarkets,
 b.. the differentiation between farmers and dealers,
 c.. the need to think small and local,
 d.. the return of the local abattoir and local meat outlets so that Cumbrians can have the assurity of eating Cumbrian meat,
 e.. why is the illegal meat trade so difficult to police? Why is it such a low priority when the effects are so devastating?
 f.. and uppermost, that the sources of infection of FAM should be eradicated from our country, so that this tragedy will never be repeated."
 Never repeated? Professor King gets a knighthood, Roy Anderson is honoured by the Royal Agricultural Society, Margaret Beckett raises a laugh with her parodies on "Mary had a Little Lamb" and – as Dr Watkins so rightly points out in her article written for warmwell at the start of 2003, "For FMD, the veterinary establishment and DEFRA have not agreed that vaccination to live should be the primary response to an outbreak. The advice of the Royal Society and EU inquiries has fallen on deaf ears blocked by the cotton wool of defensive self-justification." Jan 1–6 ~ ".. he should refuse his knighthood"
 Carrying the can – letter in the Telegraph (external link) Date: 1 January 2003
 Sir – The arrogance of this Government takes some believing, shown in its decision in the New Year Honours list to award Professor David King a knighthood (report, Dec 31).
 When will it accept that what this Government did during the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001 is nothing to be proud of? It killed 10 million animals, most healthy, and destroyed people's trust in the Government.
 Prof King was wrong in the advice he gave the Government and he should refuse his knighthood.
 From: Pat Walker, North Yorkshire Smallholders Society, Thirsk, N Yorks Jan 1 – 6 – "What has also been clear to me is that there is a real gulf between those who live in our towns and cities and those in the countryside."
 (From Prince Charles' tribute to farmers in FWi) "It is to help bridge that gap, to make people more aware of what is going on in the countryside and of the threat to the people who live and work in it, that I have been doing what I can to draw attention to issues which the farming community faces. It is said that agriculture is no different from any other industry which has had to go through a process of so-called restructuring. I happen to believe that this shows a lack of understanding about the role of agriculture.
 The fundamental difference is that the countryside is not a factory; it makes up 70% of the land mass in this small island of ours and we depend on farmers to look after it and to produce the very stuff of life – our food. It is simply not possible to stop farming and hope that by some miracle the landscape will stay tended, the hedges cut and the grass grazed....." (more) Dec 31 ~ " I would like to know if , in 2003, there is anyone in DEFRA, veterinary science or the establishment in veterinary medicine and organic farming who is enabled to do scientific work on the care and raising of farm animals and who is planning to address the issues I have raised."
 " We should never destroy 10 million farm animals again when vaccination against FMD could have