Back British Farming Day
September has gotten off to a busy start as we celebrated Back British Farming Day in Herefordshire.
This year, we invited all of Herefordshire’s councillors out on farm to meet those who help to put food on their plates and keep the Herefordshire economy afloat.
We held a number of productive meetings over the week with members of all political parties, which was our key aim given we will be facing council elections next May.
We visited a mixed livestock farming system with the leader of Herefordshire Council, took the cabinet member for the environment to a newly constructed reservoir on a soft fruit and potato farm, discussed the challenges of the arable sector and diversification projects with a Lib Dem councillor, showed a Green councillor how wetland creation can support sustainable farming on a poultry unit, and spoke to the leader of Herefordshire’s Independent Group about opportunities to work more closely with council staff.
It was fantastic to see so many members at Kington Show on Saturday, and we used the opportunity to invite councillors who hadn’t made it out with us in the week to join us on stand.
Our work for Back British Farming day is far from over, as we will continue to meet with councillors unable to join us earlier this month and have the important conversations about how the authority can better support our members.
Arson attacks
We have had enough to contend with in Herefordshire this summer without the arson attacks to the west of Hereford each weekend.
However, a fortnight ago, it was fantastic to see over 130 farmers turn out with 24 hours notice to speak to officers and convey the strength of feeling on this issue.
We have since maintained that pressure on the police to catch the culprit, and on Friday met with the Chief Inspector of West Mercia Police, Detective Chief Inspector Ben Person, and Inspector James Ashton. I also requested that Group Commander Dave Swallow for Herefordshire and Worcestershire Fire and Rescue team attended, to ensure there is a collaborative approach.
The police discussed their progress to date and course of action, as well as how best to preserve and gather forensics, and how CCTV can help detect attacks and support their investigations.
Alec Bond, from the Hereford North and Borders NFU Mutual Office, has raised a substantial reward from an anonymous donor and the police are now liaising with Crimestoppers on how this can best be utilised.
We also arranged for our brand partner, Reolink, to attend a webinar to show us the differences between their cameras and explore how modern security technology can help you keep a closer eye on everything, from wherever you are.
This session was recorded and is available online.
Bluetongue
We are aware of incidents in Herefordshire and want to remind members that we are here to support you.
While we do encourage members to vaccinate, the decision of whether or not to is one for each farmer to make and our support remains the same.
However, it is key that cases are registered to ensure the government can respond effectively and are aware of the scale of the problem farmers are tackling.
It is an offence not to report an infection.
The NFU continues to lobby for simpler processes for registering both infected animals and vaccinations.
The government has listened and has now announced that government blood tests are no longer required to confirm BTV3 in England and private vet surgeons can confirm on farm based on clinical assessment. This should help to expedite the process and these measures came in to force in England from Friday, 11 September.
In addition to this, the NFU has asked for support for the disposal of carcasses.