Tuesday, 6th October 2009
Sheep tagging continues to potentially threaten Perthshire sheep farmers
Last February I took the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee delegation to Glenfernate Farm in Perthshire, so they could witness firsthand the conditions hill sheep farmers have to deal with.
I had hoped that they would see that mandatory electronic identification for sheep and goats, agreed by the Agriculture Council in December 2007, was wholly impractical and would financially cripple sheep farmers in Perthshire.
While the Agriculture Committee were convinced that EID was a bad idea, the Commission is otherwise minded.
I recently organised a meeting with Consumer Affairs Commissioner Androula Vassiliou and five other Scottish MEPs. Despite the fact the Agricultural delegation had seen the damage EID would do, Vassiliou and three members of her Cabinet were still unwilling to consent to any changes.
At the meeting, it became more and more apparent the Commissioner was not for turning.
We asked that breeding ewes born and spending their entire life on a holding should not require EID as there is no benefit to disease control. The Commissioner stated it was necessary in case they got mixed up with sheep from neighbouring holdings.
We pressed Vassiliou to set out clearly the tolerances the commission would allow when it came to cross compliance. She pointed out that this was a matter for the Agricultural Commissioner. Local conditions would also require to be taken into account by local inspectors.
We asked the Commissioner to provide funding for farmers to implement the scheme. She suggested the Scottish Government would be able to use the Scottish Rural Development Programme funding, a scheme already stretched to capacity, to provide assistance.
She also clarified that other member states had insisted on the UK giving a commitment that they would not ask for further concessions until EID was implemented, as a pre-condition of them agreeing to the last concessions. It was made clear that this left the door open for the UK Government to re-open up the debate in Council, once the implementation phase had started. But by that time, it’s likely to be too late for our farmers.
Finally, she reminded us that there is a two year gradual implementation process for EID up until December 31st 2011.
EID may well constitute the last nail in the coffin for our beleaguered sheep farmers, few of whom can afford to fit every animal with expensive microchips or deal with the complex cross-compliance issues involved. As the Perthshire sheep sector dwindles, once again the EU will have to rely increasingly on imported lamb from countries out-with the EU, who pay no attention whatsoever to the rigorous regulations and controls we impose on our own farmers.
The UK sheep flock has fallen in the past decade from 20 million to under 16 million sheep - the biggest flock in Europe but not, I fear, for much longer.
My aim is to support local farmers and to work alongside the NFU in Scotland, who have warned of the huge social, environmental and economic impacts the demise of sheep farming will cause to the Perthshire community and beyond.
