The NFU's British Farmer & Grower members' magazine caught up with Christine Middlemiss in London to talk about her time in Australia, Brexit, TB and selling the UK’s high welfare story.
In a nutshell: Christine Middlemiss is the government’s chief adviser on animal health and welfare, speaking for England domestically and representing the UK internationally. The CVO leads the response to animal disease outbreaks in England.
You picked an interesting time to return to the UK and Defra. What attracted you to the role?
It’s such an opportunity. This is a key time for my profession and for farming. Being part of it, able to influence it, is really exciting. It tempted me back from Australia – the weather didn’t but the opportunities did.
You grew up on a farm. How does that affect your approach?
It’s my cousin’s farm now, in the Scottish Borders, an uplands farm of about 2,000 acres with suckler cows and hill sheep. Why am I a vet and not a farmer? Well I’m not good at tractor driving and I like knowing how things work on the animal side of things. One of my first memories is of being in the lambing shed with my cousins just going ‘but why?’. It was always the science that drove me. And I have a cousin who’s a vet too, so it’s not just me.
I hope it does affect my approach. Farmers have a hard job. They have to be businessmen, but out in the field, coping with the weather... to have skills in all the areas they need to now is exacting. Hopefully, through my experience and my time in practice, I’ll have some good understanding and my feet on the ground.
Most recently you were CVO for New South Wales, in Australia. What can
we learn?
I think global society generally is becoming more interested in animal welfare and there was a really live conversation there around public expectation and how that impacted on businesses. They export more than 70% of their red meat and are very aware – in government and the industry – of the Australian ‘brand’, in how they are viewed in the world. That’s very current for our discussions at the moment; the UK livestock industry’s position in the world.
I think we have a good news story to tell. But we’re not always as good at telling it in as a joined-up way as we could be. New Zealand and Australia talk very much about ‘clean and green’ and that creates a mental image.
I think we have good standards and our Secretary of State is clear that we will not be reducing them. But we need to be good at talking about and demonstrating them.
Do you support the badger cull? Is the 25-year TB strategy working?
There’s a broad base of science that says badgers have a role in the spread of TB. As do cattle, and how we move them around. I think taking action on all fronts is important to get to where we all want to be.
I completely appreciate farmers are on the front line and that they see it day in, day out. I don’t think we can underestimate how that feels, the worry of having your TB test and of what it’s going to mean not just for your business, but also for you personally, and for your herd.
We need to continue to invest in the science, to look at improved ways of testing, at vaccination… it’s a story about using all the tools in the toolbox. I strongly support the TB review that’s just begun and refining our approach. For me a big part is about testing and testing methodology. Quicker tests that detect disease as early as possible – that’s an area we should push forwards, to identify where infection is. And the Animal and Plant Health Agency are working with whole-genome sequencing to understand how the disease moves around so we can be more targeted in our approaches.
The Aussies have something similar to the proposed Livestock Information Service (a 'one-stop' digital animal movement and traceability platform). How important has that been?
I think it’s hugely important. The countries we will trade with are increasingly aware of traceability, verification and provenance. It’s not good enough anymore to just say you’ve got strong welfare systems, you have to show how they work. Exports add value to the industry, they are really important to the health of farming and of rural communities. We all have a stake in sharing our story.
What won’t you miss from Australia?
Worrying about snakes! Luckily, I only ever saw a baby one. There’s also a big bat population. It’s important in disease ecology and spread, particularly zoonotic disease, and that was a really interesting but difficult area. As a vet and a farmer you are motivated by being able to see that you’ve made a difference and it’s difficult to do that in those areas.
What’s on the radar in terms of exotic disease? How prepared are we?
We’ve been watching Bluetongue in France, African Swine Fever from eastern Europe and we always watch Foot-and-Mouth in northern Africa and Asia. Avian Influenza is a risk that’s hopefully diminishing for this year but the (APHA) team at Weybridge are doing a lot of work to understand how the virus might change over time and how we could adapt our controls. Our horizon-scanning is really good. Every day we look at the formal and informal chatter around the world and what’s changing. Our risk assessments are published online to let people know what we’re doing.
I think in mounting a response we are as good as anywhere else that I’ve been to and considered. We will learn lessons from operations like Exercise Blackthorn (the current simulation to test Britain’s readiness for a Foot-and-Mouth outbreak - ed) because that’s why we do them, and you can always refine your approach.
How will new post-Brexit arrangements affect the farmer/vet relationship?
I think a lot of that relationship is happening anyway but we’re not so explicit about it. Farm vets have ongoing relationships with farmers in business planning and disease management but I think there’s an opportunity in the Command Paper to look at how much more explicit we make that and how much more consistent and uniform across the country, to drive biosecurity and disease benefits, and improve productivity and environmental impacts.
I don’t see it as about policing farmers. There’s a lot of really good work going on, but how do we better evidence and demonstrate that? I don’t think it’s necessarily about more regulation and more visits – if anything we want to have fewer visits and, where farmers are doing the right things, to let them get on with their businesses.
Better productivity is a key Command Paper area. How do vets fit into that?
It’s about business planning, which for me links to disease planning and resilience. It’s working with your vet to understand your potential risks and how to address them, but in the context of your business plan – understanding where you are spending on activities related to health and what improved productivity you could have.
How do you want animal health on British farms to look thanks to your work?
I want British farms to be resilient, healthy businesses that are respected globally.