Select Committee on Administration Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence


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 health—particularly 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 industry—a 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 survive—at 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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