The Parish Magazine - Parish of Greater Whitbourne

of Greater WhitbourneBovine TB updatePage 9Agricultural Chaplain‘s ReportMinisters have finally announceda badger cull to combatbovine tuberculosis. Cullingis expected to be pilotedin two areas in autumn 2012.Whilst the locations have yetto be announced west andsouth-west England have beenhighlighted as likely areas.The two pilot culls will takeplace over six weeks and willexamine whether the controlledshooting of badgers issafe, effective and humane.They will be overseen by anindependent panel of experts.If the pilots are successful thepolicy will be rolled out acrossthe country during 2013. HoweverMinisters accept that alegal challenge is highly likely.Farmers are expected to fundthe cull and will be required tocombine to form limited companieswhich will apply toNatural England for a fouryearlicence to cull badgers.Trained contractors will beused by the company to carryout the cull. Individual farmersmay be contracted to participateprovided they have afirearms certificate and havecompleted an approved trainingcourse and shooting competencytest. Oversight of theculled areas will rest with theAnimal Health and VeterinaryLaboratories Agency (AHVLA)which will conduct surveillanceand testing.Licences can only be grantedto areas which are alreadysubject to annual testing (i.e.areas of high incidence andhigh risk). Culling may be permittedvia cage trapping andshooting, or controlled shooting.Pilot areas must be aminimum of 150 sq km withsufficient boundaries andbuffers and at least 70% of thetotal area must be accessiblefor culling and at least 90%accessible or within 200m ofaccessible land. This is to tryand minimise the risk of leavingreservoirs of badgers orallowing rapid re-introductionof badgers into the culledarea. In practise it looks as ifthe cull areas will be significantlylarger, from 250-450 sqkm. The aim is to reduce thebadger population by at least70% in the control area. Therewill be closed seasons whenculling is not permitted.There is dispute over the totalcost of the pilots. Defra hasestimated a £1.4m bill but theNFU has argued for a significantlylower cost, up to£112,000. It is acknowledgedthat the cost of policing thearea against protestors mayalso be significant. In comparison,nearly 25,000 cattle wereslaughtered in England during2010 because of bovine TBand the cost to the taxpayer isestimated to top £1bn overthe next ten years. Almost 25%of all cattle farms in the westand south-west of Englandwere affected by the diseaseduring the year.A professional body for agriculture?Farm Minister Jim Paice hassuggested the development ofa professional body to promotetechnical and businessexpertise for the farming industry,building on the workof the Agricultural and HorticulturalDevelopment Council,which currently representsabout 75% of total output.This is a distinct role fromthat of the NFU which representsfarmers in the politicalarena.UK harvest and future pricesDefra have confirmed that theUK wheat crop grew by 3% lastharvest to 15.3m tonnes. Thearea under wheat productionwas 2% higher but averageyields also rose by 1% to 7.7t/The Rev Nick Read, AgriculturalChaplain, Diocese of Herefordha. Barley production was up5% to 5.5m tonnes, with a 13%increase in spring barley offsettinga decline in the areaunder winter-sown crops anda small reduction in yields.Oilseed rape had a recordyear, yields rose by 13% to anaverage of 3.9t/ha and thearea under cultivation rose by10%, leading to a total yield24% higher at 2.8m tonnes.Spring cropping is likely to belower this year as good drillingconditions and strongwheat prices encouraged morewinter cropping.Feed grain prices are rising asconcern grows over the impactof dry weather on theestablishment of maize cropsin Argentina and Brazil. January2012 feed wheat on theLondon futures market stoodat £152/t, £6/t higher thanpre-Christmas trading.Water for LifeWater is in the spotlight as thegovernment has launched aWhite Paper entitled ―Waterfor Life.‖ Defra suggests thatthe UK faces a future of watershortages and lasting environmentaldamage unless our attitudesto water usage change.Water companies and privateabstractors are bound by lawsthat date back to the 1960sand it is felt that these no(Continued on page 10)