APPENDIX 22
Letter to James Gray MP from Mrs Rosemary
Collingborn
I have asked a selection of farmers who farm around
the Dauntsey Vale in Wiltshire to send in evidence to the Committee.
Historically, this heavy clay land was a rich area for milk and
cheese production and nearly all the farms have carried dairy
cows until the recent crisis in dairying. I surveyed the area
in 1995 and found 22 dairy farms within a two miles of the centre
of Brinkworth and 73 within a four mile radius. Most of the smaller
farms, less than 60 cows, have now ceased production and the 70-90
cowherds are now under severe pressure. I do not consider this
to be in the interests of our rural economy and structure nor
in the wider public interest. These are farmers who are the traditional
family farms with a high regard for animal welfare. They are all
demoralised by the low prices they receive for all their produce
and their inability to change the situation. Many are becoming
physically ill from the increasing demands put on them for longer
and longer hours for no financial return.
OUR OWN
HERD
80 cow herd with 60 followers on 184 acres, selling
milk to Milk Marque. The consequences of BSE for us have been
a huge fall in cull cow and calf prices which are essentially
fixed by Government and are outside our control. Back in 1987
our cull cows averaged £478 and our calves £131. Last
year our 59 calves sold averaged £58, and this year they
have averaged £40. Our cull cows last year averaged £299.
The price is now around £260.
This loss could be sustained if the milk price had
not also fallen considerably. Our milk price has fallen from an
annual average of 23.892 in April 1997 to 20.522 in April 1998
and is currently 18.391 to April 1999. Although there has been
a reduction in some of our variable costs, fixed costs are increasing
and this increase like the rise in diesel and council tax completely
out of our control. Obviously under these conditions leasing and
bank charges become more difficult to service and there is less
money for the family to live on. We took the step of cutting back
from having a farm worker to depending entirely on family help
which means my husband is now working very long hours. Starting
at 5.30 a.m. and finishing at 7 p.m. at night. At 50, after 30
years hard work on the farm, he had been hoping to earn the right
to take things a little easier, but is facing the opposite case.
Our children who have seen the hard struggles over the last few
years and the unsympathetic approach of the public and the Government
do not feel they want to go into farming. The fact that the present
Government has removed university grants makes the future even
harder for us.
FARM ASSURANCE
Even though our milk was already the cleanest in
Europe, as our incomes have declined, we've been asked to increase
our standards, ie another bulk tank for every other day collection,
and to upgrade our milking and dairy facilities with even less
money then usual to cover the expense. The attitude of the large
dairy buyers in particular Unigate have contributed largely to
this pressure. In our case we had to cash in a pension policy
to buy the bulk tank.
NEW REGULATIONS
Since the BSE regulations, farmers have many more
forms to fill in and the penalties for instance for failing to
apply for a cattle passport in time are draconian. It is also
very distressing to have to put the large yellow eartags into
a small calf's ear, causing much pain and then to have to send
this calf straight to slaughter, as there is no other market for
it. A market could be created if the catering industry sourced
its beef from Britain rather than abroad as it does at present.
LONG HOURSPHYSICAL
AND MENTAL
STRAIN
Most farmers have had to cut labour to survive. Many
have had to let their only farmer worker go and are now working
in isolation on their own. This causes mental pressure and pressure
on physical healthparticularly as many dairy farmers are
over 50. Farmers now have less time to spend with their families
and less money to provide for their children. The quality of the
whole family's life is in severe decline. The desperately wet
Springs of the last two years have put on additional pressure.
PRESSURE TO
QUIT
There are few dairy farmers who are not considering
this option for the reasons already mentioned allied to the following:
Retirement relief for those over 50 is being phased out by £50,000
a year over the next five years. I think the Chancellor should
restore the full concession forthwith to keep farmers on the land.
NO SUCCESSORS
Fewer and fewer children wish to follow this way
of life. They know that they would have to work extremely long
hours for very little money, while they could easier earn twice
as much outside for half as much effort. There has been a great
drop off in students studying agriculture at the colleges.
QUOTA
Quota still has a ready sale value. This may disappear
any time after 2003.
PRESSURE FROM
OUTSIDE FARMING
The rest of the economy appears to be booming and
the dire state of farming to be ignored by Government. This further
demoralises farmers.
WHAT THE
PUBLIC WANTWHAT
THE SUPERMARKETS
WANT
It appears that the supermarkets would like to see
dairy farming to go the way of the pig and poultry industrya
few large suppliers with large cow numbers, being easy to inspect
and control. However there is strong evidence to suggest that
a cow can only remember her pecking order in a herd up to 100
cows. In a large herd she is constantly under stress as she has
to continually fight for her place. Smaller family farms operate
a hands on approach that generally produces a high degree of animal
welfare. "Factory farming" is neither desirable nor
what farms or the public want. Farmers want to stay in business
for the long term. Many families have farmed the same land for
generations. The public want welfare friendly family farms.
WHAT CAN
BE DONE
The dairy companies should give far more support
to British farmers, particularly since the advent of farm assurance.
At present they cite the pound's weakness as a reason for paying
low prices, ie they could import cheaply, taking no account of
the welfare standards and quality of the imported milk being less
than the British equivalent. The Dairy Industry Federation has
been particularly unhelpful, using its utmost power to remove
the farmers' co-operative from the market. This can be seen by
its members pricing systems, offering one penny above the Milk
Marque price. Milk Marque is vulnerable. It needs a selling system
that isn't open to manipulation by an informal cartel and it needs
to process to increase demand for our milk. Its proposed new dairy
at Cannington needs support. At present everything possible seems
to be being thrown up to stop it by the local council.
MILK PRICE
It is in nobody's interests to have a milk price
set so low that most dairy farmers are now farming at a loss.
It means that huge sectors of the industry will leave, and the
structure of the present countryside will change for ever. Oxfordshire,
Berkshire and Hampshire now have few dairy farmers and it will
be tragic if Wiltshire and other traditional dairy counties go
the same way. At present, many farmers are either giving up or
seriously thinking of doing so. A milk price of even 23p a litre
would mean that farmers could surviveat the present low
price 15p this month they cannot. The dairies not the public are
profiting from the dairy farmers' misfortune.
THE GOVERNMENT
Needs to take responsible action to stop the rural
bleeding as the long term consequences of a laissez-faire policy
will be disastrous, particularly for the traditional livestock
areas of the South West. Farmers will not return to the land once
they have made the hard decision to retire or sell up.
WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND AN INVITATION TO THE COMMITTEE
TO VISIT OUR FARM TO ILLUSTRATE THE PROBLEMS THAT FAMILY FARMS
ARE FACING.
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