RECENTLY I attended a meeting about food and farming which was designed to bring together the farmers on one side and food industry boffins on the other.
Unfortunately there were not many farmers present which I suppose is not surprising bearing in mind the recent battering they have received from the FMD crisis.
I remember attending such a meeting a few years and the place would have been filled out with farmers - even if they were only there for a free meal.
It is not in doubt that sheep farmers have received a real caning this year, but the question is have the authorities done enough to alleviate such a crisis?
Sheep farming in Wales is in the doldrums this year and certainly any farmers selling lambs at the present time for less than 80p/kilo will not be making any profit.
It is only about six months ago that HCC, meat promotion body in Wales, came up with figures which suggested that farmers should receive 132p/kilo if they were going to make economic sense of keeping sheep in Wales.
As market prices have never achieved this level this year (market returns are now less than 60% of this desired level), you may well wonder what will happen in future if this discounted level of prices continues for any length of time.
Sheep farming has become an integral part of the rural economy of Wales in recent years and the further you are away from the bright lights, its relative importance increases.
I do not believe the industry will survive for any length of time unless something is done pretty quickly to bring prices up to a more acceptable level.
It is easy to say what is wrong in any situation, but not so easy to put things right.
Nevertheless, here are some suggestions. Firstly, I would suspend all imports of lamb from New Zealand. At a time of distress in our own market, I believe that the Kiwis have behaved irresponsibly by suppling extra lamb volumes to our supermarkets, thus creating surpluses in our market.
Secondly, we all seem to have become enmeshed in a spider’s web of supermarket dominance. It would be lovely to think the Competition Commission would realise that time is probably running out in the battle against the supermarkets, but it would be wishful thinking to think that this Commission will take any realistic action to suppress the powers of the multiples.
Thirdly, the Government must realise that it has a financial liability to farmers following the outbreak of FMD at Pirbright in August.
FMD is not so much a clinical disease, as it can be treated quite successfully with a bit of tender love and attention, but should be remembered for its crippling economic consequences.
I support government policy that the polluter should always pay, but it seems that the present government thinks it should only apply if the farmer does the polluting.
Finally, the ban on exports of lamb from this country to continental Europe should be lifted as soon as possible.
The fear must be that the New Zealanders have moved into this market as well, so diminishing any potential for sales of some of the best lamb in the world.
