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Bob Morton, Warwickshire
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The cloning issue - loose regulations and a media on the warpath
The cloning question
The Innes's from Inverness are the farmers who bought two bulls that were born at Smiddiehill, Nr Albrighton, Shropshire that were bred from cloned embryos imported from America. Eight embryos were implanted into surrogates in Shropshire and all, four bulls and four cows, were sold to dairy farmers. The Innes bull named Dundee Paratrooper was slaughtered in July 2009 and was sold for meat, and Dundee Perfect was slaughtered in July 2009 and was prevented entering the food chain. An episode of 'Yes Minister'
The event has created the kind of furore at which us Brits excel - we have the press, both broadcast and print media, exposing the filthy rich farmers incapable turning an honest penny, and at the same time building up consumer anxiety about the milk and meat everyone is buying. Which prompts our elected leaders, and their civil servants to search for some official backing of the media frenzy. For if government departments were to oppose the media, it would probably result in the spotlight turning on to them, and their failings. It's another real life episode of 'Yes, Minister'.
We're told the Innes farm 2,000 acres near Nairn, described by the Daily Mail as "an area of rich, flat, agricultural land on the Moray Firth. When the bulls became too large and unruly to mate naturally any more, the family decided to cash in by selling them for meat."
Get the drift, the nuance? It's not all that subtle with the emphasis on the rich, and the cashing in. But it's a nuance which people in power take heed of. The big supermarkets, we're told, have made it clear "they would not touch milk and meat from clones or their descendants." Tim Smith, the Chief Exec of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it relies on the goodwill of farmers to obey the rules and keep clone food off the high street "However good the system is," Smith is quoted as saying "it is impossible for us to stand by each animal and watch it through each phase of its life cycle."
So how good is the system that he operates? The Defra press office told me today that the FSA was required to be notified about 'novel foods' under a ruling 258/97. Steven Innes says the Scottish Authorities were consulted over the original purchase, and the disposal of the bulls at the end of their lives was never mentioned. "We've been seeking their advice from the start and we've followed their guidelines and stuck to them."
Why would anyone go to the expense of buying a bull bred from a cloned embryo if there's a ban on the milk from their progeny 'entering the food chain' ?
It seems pretty clear that the rules are vague, and the directives written in all-catching generalist language. The FSA 'Novel foods' requirements were seemingly not seen by the local officials as applying to milk, neither was the descendants clause - otherwise the Innes's would not have continued with their breeding plans. The final destination of the carcasses is another area which seems to have passed the authorities by.
My betting is the Innes's will be put through the courts and the media mill in due course. Like Andy Hayward, the boss of BP, they are being built up into hate figures, and fall guys.
PS Have you seen the latest issue?
There's an Accord drill which goes on a power harrow or a home made spring tine. So when the land is dry the tines do 60 acres / day, and when it's wet the p-h works 35 or so.
There's a 40:40 parlour built from two idential second hand ones - what a great way t keep money in the bank.
There's a beacon fitted to a mast on the back of the ATV to warn following traffic - better than the single, muddy, rear light.
FINANCE: Have you ever debated whether land should be bought or rented? Either as a start-up farm or for expansion? The financial focus examines the question in detail.
Farm Security, or keeping undesirables out of the yard, away from the fields takes a thousand techniques from the well-known gate way blocks and concealed locks. This issue has more of them, including an ingenious 'tractor only' lane blocker.
Why farmers buy Practical Farm Ideas.
Here are some comments, taken unsorted from a pile of a recent reader survey:
1. Overall view: The most inspiring and useful farm publication available - at any price. Keeps back issues
2. Excellent - best magazine we get
3. Good
4. Very good, keep up the good work
5. Great!
6. Excellent magazine
7. Very good read, many ideas used myself
8. Very good. Unbiased
9. Very Good
10. Good Mag Well Done!
11. Very good overall perhaps a too many repeats at times
12 I've got loads of farmers Weeklys still in their packets! - Box them
13. INTERESTING, INFORMATIVE, CAN SAVE FARMERS A LOT OF MONEY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES - Bind them
14. Really interested to read about how farmers overcome problems and solve them by adapting or making something to make life easier - Bin them
15. Excellent, don't be afraid of advertising it won't compromise the content - Box them
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