WE are a small company selling, servicing and repairing agricultural tractors and machinery. We are right at the epicentre of the foot and mouth outbreak in Devon and our company has been devastated overnight. Cash flow went out of the window in a matter of days and our income is currently near zero.
We think that the measures outlined by the Government yesterday to help rural businesses will make little difference to our position and this is no more than we expected. The plight of the farm supply industry has not even been mentioned.
Being at the centre of the outbreak and seeing the day-to-day attempts to control the disease, we can only conclude that the Government is failing to take the current rural disaster seriously. It does not appear to have any idea of the devastation being caused to the whole rural community. The way it is dealing with this outbreak is leading local people to wonder if it really wants farming to survive.
Dead animals are left lying in the open air, commonly for up to seven days before incineration, where they are attacked by all kinds of vermin, which must lead to an increased risk of the disease spreading. There is also the extra stress caused to farmers concerned when they spend days looking at their dead stock.
We have no complaint about MAFF personnel on the ground trying to deal with outbreaks locally. They are working extremely hard, but are just overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.
The Government has drafted in a small number of Army personnel to oversee the disposal of carcasses. We already have enough chiefs. What we want is a whole tribe of Indians to increase the manpower to physically build the pyres and get these animals burnt.
The Government really need to get this emergency under control to stop further hardship to the farming community and to ensure companies like ours have a future.
It is time the Government realise the future of the Devonshire countryside and rural community is hanging by a thread, and the whole rural way of life is in danger of collapse. It needs to treat this matter head-on instead of pussy-footing about as it is at present. When will we see a Government minister with mud on their boots actually in the area seeing for themself the scale of the disaster?
John Jeffery
David Stanbury
Devtrac
Agricultural Machinery, Sales and Service
Hillsmoor
Hatherleigh