Policy differences underlined

Events this week have highlighted major policy differences between Belfast and London over CAP reform and plans to make vaccination part of the UK strategy for future foot and mouth disease outbreaks.

After this week's Brussels farm council to discuss reform of the CAP agriculture minister Brid Rodgers admitted her vision of the future was very different from that of DEFRA minister Margaret Beckett.

While London is fighting against plans to limit the aid to a single farm at €300,000, Mrs Beckett's real opposition to the Fischler package centres on its failure to cut CAP spending.

By contrast Mrs Rodgers wants reforms introduced at a pace farmers can cope with, and in a way that ensures funding remains with rural communities.

This stance is backed by Mrs Rodgers fellow farm ministers in Scotland and Wales, and she has made clear she will use the north/south ministerial council to secure a better deal for Northern Ireland.

Policy differences were also to the fore when Ulster Farmers Union president John Gilliland delivered to Downing Street the UFU's petition calling for better treatment for farming families. The UFU collected over 10,000 signatures and is questioning why DEFRA is so bullish on CAP reform, while farming families are struggling with low incomes and poor farm profits.

At a meeting with Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler Mr Gilliland also questioned the need to press ahead with reform when Agenda 2000 still had four years to run, and when markets were in balance and the CAP budget under-spent.

Further controversy surfaced over the UK government's apparent enthusiasm for suggestions from the Royal Society, Britain's leading scientific body, that vaccination should be central to a new foot and mouth outbreak control strategy.

In a statement Mrs Rodgers stressed that no decision could be made without taking account of the trade implications. United Dairy Farmers chief executive David Dobbin warned that a UK vaccination strategy could reduce markets for milk powders from Northern Ireland.

He also warned that if there was a different vaccination strategy north and South of the border trade in milk and dairy industry by-products might become impossible

Beef boost

As the Farmers' Journal went to press reports were emerging from Brussels of a major concession on beef exports.

The standing committee for the food chain, the new name of the standing veterinary committee, has reportedly agreed to allow major changes to the date based export scheme rules.

These would allow meat plants to operate partial rather than full export dedication. This is the biggest concession secured since the DBES came into existence, and should make exports a commercial possibility for the first time since 1996.

The decision was welcomed by farm minister Brid Rodgers, who said it was a change of policy the industry had wanted for some time. She added that it should be seen as a real marketing opportunity.

This view was backed by the Livestock and Meat Commission, which says that in the short term opportunities will be created for the export of specialist cuts and offals. A problem however could be that just half of cattle here meet EU rules on registering births, and exports are limited to beef from these animals.